• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, June 1, 2005

Like its loose model, Joan of Arc, "Joan of Arcadia" went down fighting... to the death. Death won again in this instance, as the CBS Friday night show didn't make it onto next fall's schedule.

Not that it was too unexpected. Broadcast networks don't keep too many prime time shows that garner just 8 million viewers each week with an average viewing age of 53.5. Joan is a young teenage girl who speaks to God, who takes the form of everyday janitors, young teenage boys, or women serving in the cafeteria. God as one of us, as the song goes.

The Associated Press reports e-mails and phone messages have flooded CBS' headquarters in Los Angeles in an effort to revive the show. The odds are weak to none that it will make it back.

History is littered with fans' efforts to save TV shows. History is also littered with networks that hang with shows long after the black and white business numbers tell them otherwise. NBC stuck with "American Dreams" for a number of years - but it didn't make the cut for next year's schedule. Fox, on the other hand, will give Emmy-winning "Arrested Development" another go.

There is a precedent of cancelled shows being revived. Fox's "Family Guy" made it back on the network airwaves after years of huge DVD sales as well as popular-viewed reruns on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block.

By that regard, it would seem that the Hallmark Channel, for example, would need to pick up "Joan of Arcadia" reruns to at least have a chance.

Show creator Barbara Hall showed some effort to appease the CBS brass by introducing the devil himself in the last episodes of the season - a way to seemingly Buffy-up the show's less dramatic social themes.

Too little, too late. That story arc was to be further explored next season with Joan tangling with the devil as she continued to receive direction from God.

God, unfortunately, wasn't able to direct CBS, who, like a good actor, was looking for its motivation.