PROPHET-MINDED ENTERTAINMENT BOTH CBS' 'JOAN OF ARCADIA' AND FOX'S 'WONDERFALLS' TAKE THEIR CUES FROM A HIGHER POWER.

Byline: David Kronke Television Writer

At the age of 12, Joan of Arc began receiving messages from saints instructing her to free France from the yoke of English rule. Dressing as a boy, she became a captain in the French army and, in 1429 at age 17, led them to a victory at the battle of Orleans.

Two Friday TV series offer their own more modest takes on Joan of Arc's legend. One, the CBS hit ``Joan of Arcadia,'' stars Amber Tamblyn as Joan Girardi, a high-school student who encounters God disguised as everyday people - a girl on a playground, a cute guy at school, a city worker in a cherry-picker. It airs at 8 p.m. Fox's more ironic ``Wonderfalls,'' which premieres Friday (not coincidentally, immediately after ``Joan of Arcadia''), focuses on Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas), an underachiever working at a Niagara Falls souvenir shop who thinks she's going crazy when the anthropomorphized animal gewgaws surrounding her start ordering her about.

In ``Nola: A Memoir of Faith, Art and Madness,'' Robin Hemley wrote about his sister's encounters with saints, battles with schizophrenia and death at age 25. ``You don't have to go far in any urban environment to find someone who believes (they're talking to God), but we don't usually want to spend much time with them,'' says Hemley, an author and creative-writing teacher. ``Through these shows we can harmlessly and safely view their delusions and say, maybe they aren't so strange.

``I've met people who are delusional that I find fascinating, and find I want their takes on things; it shakes you up a little. In real life, one doesn't get to share in the vision of a person who's schizophrenic or a prophet. They see these things privately - we don't see what they see. But in these shows, you do, and it makes you a co-prophet or co-crazy person.''

Hemley was a teenager when his sister announced to her family she had been visited by angels. ``I found it quite terrifying,'' he admits, ``but I like the idea of these shows playing imaginatively with these notions - in some way, it defuses them a little bit. Obviously, religion and spirituality can be pretty powerful forces, and these shows are a cultural safety valve, probably to the good.''

Whose God is it, anyway?

Though dissimilar in tone - ``Joan'' is predominantly poignant and thoughtful with occasional wry moments, while ``Wonderfalls'' is a kitschy goof spiked by an occasional dramatic realization - the shows have a lot in common: When Joan or Jaye is told to do something, the motivation for the request and the intended outcome are usually not straightforward.

For example, in one episode, God tells Joan to have a garage sale, which, in a circuitous fashion, both demonstrates to Joan that a guy she was interested in is unreliable and inspires her mother (Mary Steenburgen) to open a door to a tragic incident in her past. In a future episode of ``Wonderfalls,'' ambulatory pink flamingo lawn ornaments cause Jaye to inadvertently injure her father, yet that manages to effect a rapprochement between the two.

``God doesn't mess with people; we mess with ourselves,'' says ``Joan'' creator Barbara Hall, who also created ``Judging Amy.'' ``Joan gets confused when she tries to discern the hidden meaning in his statements, but he tells her, 'That's what starts wars.' When he asks her to join the chess club, he just wants her to join the chess club. We can make ourselves crazy trying to understand God's intentions.''

When ``Joan'' premiered last September, Hall says, the first three congratulatory calls she received were from friends who were atheists. ``They didn't say, 'That's a God I can believe in,' but it has an approach to spirituality that wasn't repulsive to them. That's what the show's trying to do - we've all been abused by certain notions of God and religion. My approach is, 'What if it looked like this? Could you buy it then?' ''

Tamblyn, who plays Joan, agrees. ``We made it an important point - we're not religious, we're philosophical,'' she says. ``A lot of people lump God and religion together, but if anything, the show pokes fun at the silly things about religion.''

And `Wonderfalls'' pokes fun at just about everything. As executive producer Todd Holland (whose previous TV credits include ``Malcolm in the Middle'' and ``The Larry Sanders Show'') warns the more earnest fans of ``Joan,'' ``If you're changing channels, do not come expecting more of the same. You'll be annoyed. But if you'd like a laugh and to see us deal with the same issue with a different brush, I think we can co-habit very nicely.''

Holland explains Jaye's conundrum this way: ``When you're driving and you see someone who needs help, you can either stop or drive on. In Jaye's case, the universe stops her car and tells her to get out. It's a study in the reluctant good Samaritan - she's swept up in circumstances, kicking and screaming.''

Unlike Hall, Holland declines to name the force(s) communicating with Jaye. 'Who's talking through the muses? You tell me. Who do you want it to be? The prevailing universal power - everyone has a name for it. In our world, it's the universe. We don't name the universal presence.''

A touch of the divine

The actresses playing both lead roles describe their characters in similar fashions.

``Her ideals are sophomoric and self-involved,'' says Tamblyn of Joan. ``I like that she still can't understand the message God is trying to give her. There's so much more to investigate.''

Dhavernas says, ``Jaye's really self-centered. She had created a comfortable zone for herself; she's lazy, and a bit scared. When she saves the day, she knows that once people start being proud of you, you have to be even better the next time. Being scared and lazy, she doesn't want to have to live up to that.'' She adds that her character is more reluctant to play along with the powers that be than Joan, but, ``when she doesn't do what they tell her to, something worse happens.''

Hall might disagree with ``Wonderfalls'' on that point. ``Free will is real - it's the point of the human condition, the point of being here. The plan, the order of the universe, comes from physics, and the point of our being here is to either move toward order or move away from it, which makes everything more difficult. It could be that separation from God could be separation from the laws of physics. Just as if you jump out of a building thinking you're going to break away from the laws of gravity: Things are not going to go well.''

And things frequently don't go well in ``Joan of Arcadia'' - Joan has questioned God on the matter of human suffering.

``Anybody can contend with God in a benign universe - the frustration of the human condition is we don't get to know why there is misery - why would God start all this in the first place? I don't have an answer for that. God does. He knows, even if we don't get to. There's no comfort in the show; I can't offer that. I can only offer entertainment and questions, the dialogue I want to have about the human condition. The show is comforting only to the degree that viewers realize that they aren't the only ones asking these questions.''

``We can't answer it, either,'' Holland says. `` 'What' and 'why' questions, neither show can answer. But people do need to know that there is some kind of order, that life isn't not random, so we do provide that.''

David Kronke, [phone]

david.kronke(at)dailynews.com

A philosophical grudge match

What do the lead talents on ``Joan of Arcadia'' and ``Wonderfalls'' think about their counterparts?

Caroline Dhavernas, star of ``Wonderfalls:'' ``The shows are very different. In ('Joan's') case, we know exactly what's going on - she's talking to God. We're quirkier, more absurd. We have a different sense of humor. Maybe it's not such a bad thing (to have 'Joan' air just before 'Wonderfalls'). It could open people's minds to that kind of show.''

Amber Tamblyn, star of ``Joan of Arcadia:'' ``I don't know how much existentialism you can get out of talking to ceramic animals.''

Todd Holland, executive producer of ``Wonderfalls:'' `` 'Joan' does what it does very well. It's very earnest, very feeling. They do that very well, they have many poignant episodes, but we really do flip the card on the earnestness. We have poignancy, but we never settle there. None of us have patience with earnestness at face value.''

Barbara Hall, ``Joan of Arcadia'' creator: ``I found the pilot enjoyable and whimsical, but I can't say I found it metaphysical. Jaye is older, that's one huge difference: She's overexposed to education and intellectualism, where Joan is not; Joan's not even a good student. When you're Jaye's age, you have a set view of the world, and talking plastic animals fly in the face of that. A 16-year-old doesn't have that. She's unsure how the world works anyway, so she's more open to God.''

- D.K.

JOAN OF ARCADIA

Where: CBS (Channel 2).

When: 8 p.m. Friday.

WONDERFALLS

Where: Fox (Channel 11).

When: 9 p.m. Friday.

CAPTION(S):

5 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Amber Tamblyn in CBS' ``Joan of Arcadia''

(2 -- cover -- color) Caroline Dhavernas of Fox's ``Wonderfalls''

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer

Daily News photo illustration

(3) JOAN OF ARCADIA, with Amber Tamblyn, left, and Juliette Goglia (as God)

(4) WONDERFALLS, with Caroline Dhavernas

(5) - Barbara Hall creator, ``Joan of Arcadia''

Box:

A philosophical grudge match (see text)