I've been watching and enjoying the new show Joan of Arcadia. If you haven't seen it, it's a clever new show on CBS about a teenage girl who has regular conversations with God, who appears in her life in the guise of random strangers that she encounters. God instructs Joan to do different things without explaining His or Her reasons, and lets Joan work things out for herself. The conversations with God are by far the best part of the show; what I love about the characterization of God is that what is front and center is not morality but mystery. The picture is of a God who loves deeply but is respectful of human free will to a fault.

Unfortunately, the rest of the show is less charming; Joe Mantegna as the Chief of Police is ham-handed and overwritten; the interactions among teenagers don't always ring true. And the saga of the paraplegic son is about as bathos-ridden and schmaltzy as televised portrayals of people with handicaps unfailingly are. But hey, it's a show about God on primetime television that isn't Touched by an Angel or Seventh Heaven. We gott take what we can get.