7th Heaven

This article is about the TV program. For other uses, see Seventh Heaven (disambiguation)

7th Heaven is an American television series about a Protestant minister's family living in the fictional town of Glenoak, California. It was created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The show's original series finale aired on May 8th, 2006, but in a very rare occurrence the program was renewed by the new CW Television Network after that episode experienced large ratings. The 11th season will premiere on September 25, 2006.

The series premiered on Monday, August 26, 1996 on The WB. It was the first time that the WB aired Monday night programming, and is argued to be the only reason that the WB has the success that it has today. The series lasted from 1996-2006 on The WB, and will be one of the charter shows of The CW. Remarkably, the series remained in that timeslot ever since, holding its own against the 92 other series that have aired against its 10 seasons. It has also been the WB Network's most watched series since 1998 - eight straight years. 19 of the WB's 20 top rated hours of prime-time television have been 7th Heaven episodes. 7th Heaven also holds the record for the WB's most watched hour - 12.5 million viewers - set on February 8, 1999 when the series welcomed the birth of twins Sam and David Camden. Despite buzz from critics among sister series such as Felicity, Dawson's Creek, Smallville, Gilmore Girls, and Everwood, no WB show carries anywhere near the amount of success that 7th Heaven has generated over its 10 year run.

On November 11, 2005 it was announced that, after ten seasons, 7th Heaven would end in May 2006. Shortly thereafter, a massive online "Save 7th Heaven Campaign" was begun in order to keep the series going, with the belief that the WB cancelled its core series simply to cut expenses. A January 17, 2006 report in the Hollywood Reporter confirmed that the WB was cancelling the series in response to the $16 million loss it was taking on the program. But, on May 18, 2006, it was announced that the series will be renewed for an 11th season and will be seen on the new CW Network.[http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/17/tv.7th.heaven.ap/index.html 7th Heaven will be the oldest program on either The WB or UPN to move to The CW when it replaces both networks in September 2006.

Cast and Characters

Due to 7th Heaven's recent 11th season renewal, characters status may be unknown

Stephen Collins (Rev. Eric Camden)
Catherine Hicks (Annie Camden)
Beverley Mitchell (Rev. Lucy Camden-Kinkirk)
Nikolas Brino (Sam Camden)
Lorenzo Brino (David Camden)
George Stults (Kevin Kinkirk)
Haylie Duff (Sandy Jameson)
Happy (Happy Camden the dog)

Recurring Cast and Characters

Barry Watson (Matt Camden)
Sarah Danielle Madison (Sarah Glass-Camden)
Jessica Biel (Mary Camden-Rivera)
David Gallagher (Simon Camden)
Mackenzie Rosman (Ruthie Camden)
Geoff Stults (Ben Kinkirk)
Scotty Leavenworth (Peter Petrowski)

Premise

Denomination

The central characters are "Reverend Eric Camden," his wife Annie, and their seven children. "Reverend Camden" is minister to the Glenoak Community Church. The denomination of the church is never exactly stated; however, it is known to be some version of something like "Protestant", as disclosed by Matt in the episode in which he gets married to Sarah, a Jewish woman. However, in most episodes this fact remains ostentatiously unstated, and indeed the actual word "Jesus" is only mentioned once or twice each show. One can however rule out many denominations based on the fact Lucy has joined the church as a reverend, as some denominations do not believe that a woman should lead a church in such a manner.

In at least one episode, the Disciples of Christ denominational logo (St. Andrew cross and chalice) was displayed prominently on the front of the church's pulpit. Many of the church scenes were filmed at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of North Hollywood (Studio City). Though the logo display was likely not intentional, there appears to be nothing about the Camden's brand of Christianity that would be negated if they were indeed a part of the Disciples of Christ.

In an earlier online show guide from Warner Brothers Television, the backstory for Eric Camden described him as being an Episcopal minister leading, with his bishop's permission, a non-denominational church. This is particularly interesting in light of Stephen Collins's real-life attendance at an Episcopal parish in the Pacific Palisades area. ^*

Clerical family

The family originally consisted of five children (Matt, Mary, Lucy, Simon and Ruthie), but in the third season, Annie gave birth to twins, Sam and David. Three of the children, Matt, Simon, and Mary, moved away from home and appeared irregularly throughout the rest of the show's run. Mary, the show's "prodigal daughter", moved away to solve problems she was having in Glenoak more than once, and also married and divorced. Unlike the others, which appeared again throughout the show, she was the only Camden that really got "kicked off" the show by the producers (see Jessica Biel's departure). Simon went to college, and Matt married and pursued his career as a doctor. Nevertheless, the house is always full; Lucy, her husband Kevin, and their daughter Savannah all live near the Camdens, and they are now expecting twin boys. Daughter Ruthie and son Simon also are in the final seasons regularly. Frequent house guests also find the Camden house a home of their own. Due to dissatisfaction with the show and her image, Jessica Biel was slowly written out of the show from 2000 and, after an appearance in September 2003, she did not appear again until the tenth season finale on May 8th, 2006. On the other hand, Matt and Simon have regularly found themselves involved with the family since they moved out and Simon (David Gallagher) returned regularly in the tenth season.

Themes

Each episode deals with a moral lesson or controversial theme that the family deals with either directly or indirectly. Some range from the traumatic (e.g., Eric's sister came to visit and the children found out that she had a drinking problem) to the somewhat trivial (e.g., in one episode, every child acquired an addiction, with even Ruthie being addicted to gum). Beyond the moral lesson in each show, there are also longer-running story arcs. In the later seasons, Eric had to deal with his wife entering menopause and his youngest daughter Ruthie needing a training bra. The topics are usually approached from a socially conservative Protestant Christian point of view, although the series avoids touching "hot button" issues (i.e. affirmative action, abortion and homosexuality). An 2000 episode about the importance of voting on election day seemed to suggest that men in the family were voting for then Texas Governor George W. Bush, while the women were voting for Vice President Al Gore. However, in the same episode in which Matt discloses that the family is Protestant, he also discloses to Sarah that his father, the Reverend Camden, is a Democrat. Along with the show's family-oriented storylines, this conservative nature has been responsible, in part, for the show's longevity - appealing to an audience who are rarely targeted. This appears to extend even to the question of the denomination of Mr. Camden's church ("Reverend Camden," in the vocabulary of the program's producers and writers).

In the later seasons (starting with Season 3, but most consistently after Season 5) the show's focus has been on condemning premarital sex. The issue is hashed out in nearly every episode, with many of the Camden family's children and de-facto members (such as Robbie) either having sex, getting pregnant, being afraid of having gotten someone pregnant or being afraid they've caught "an STD" (they never name any specific one). A typical discussion goes like this: "Reverend Camden" and Annie are discussing Simon's obnoxious girlfriend, Rose, whom they are afraid their son Simon is going to marry. "Reverend Camden" says that there's no way Simon wants to get married, as he (Simon) believes that the only reason his siblings got married was to have sex and he (Simon) thinks they made a mistake, and since he (Simon) is already having sex, there's no reason for him to get married at all. To which Annie replies: "You know, before I met Rose, I couldn't think of one good reason for Simon to have premarital sex."

The show is reliant on the very special episode concept, attempting to introduce contemporary social issues to lend greater emotional resonance to episodes. These episodes do in fact lead to high ratings for the show. The January 24, 2005 episode, which featured the birth of Lucy's daughter Savannah, garnered 7.99 million viewers - the highest WB rating since 2003. Another example included the would-be series finale, now simply known as the Season 10 finale, which scored 7.56 million viewers on May 8, 2006.

Jessica Biel's departure

Jessica Biel played eldest daughter Mary from the show's beginning. However, gradually dissatisfied with her "goody goody" image, Biel eventually posed for semi-nude photographs for Gear magazine which the producers of the show did not approve of. During the fifth (2000-2001) season, her character had gone through a rebellious phase, and this storyline was used to write Biel out of the show, sending Mary to her grandparents' house in Buffalo, New York for some tough love to counter her rebellious behaviour. During the sixth season (2001 - 2002), Mary returned home but the differences between Biel and the producers led to Mary leaving home full time and becoming a flight attendant.

Biel returned for five episodes during the seventh season (2002 - 2003), including Lucy's wedding episode, and the season finale. She then appeared in the second episode of the eighth season, which aired on September 22, 2003, when she revealed to the family that she had married Carlos Rivera (Carlos Ponce) whom the Camdens assisted in returning home to his family in the Christmas episode "Here Comes Santa Claus" of the third season, and was pregnant with his child. Following that appearance, fans hoped for years that she would return at some point. After a nearly three-year absence, it was announced on April 3, 2006 that Jessica would make a triumphant return for the season finale "And Thank You", reuniting all nine Camdens for the first time since the seventh season finale "Life and Death" in April 2003.

While she was away, from 2003-2006, Mary has had major storylines off-camera, including giving birth to son Charles Miguel in 2004, and then subsequently divorcing her husband and signing away custody of her child in the May 2005 ninth season finale "Mi Familia." Her on-screen ex-husband Carlos Ponce, made several appearances during her absence to deliver these stories. Minor stories or tid-bits include Mary taking a political stance in Season 9 by sending her husband to the voting booth and attending rallies, sending Lucy a baby shower gift, going through job training in London, relocating to Chicago following her divorce, and most recently, helping Simon in the 10th season with financial difficulties. However, she has clearly maintained a connection with Carlos and son, and up until the divorce was made known, kept in contact with her siblings semi-regularly at least.

Her appearance in the 10th season finale, though limited, shed light on events taking place during the last few months. Mary graduated college the same weekend as Matt and Sarah, reunited with husband Carlos, and is pregnant with twin girls. Although she was not with the family, her conversation with her husband during the episode revealed that their reunion took place during Matt and Sarah's graduation ceremony, the first time they had all been together in almost three years, also suggesting some final resolution to the estrangement that had been present since Season 5.

Production

Although originally produced for FOX in 1996, the show aired on The WB. It was produced by Spelling Television, and distributed for syndication by CBS Paramount Television (the ABC Family network has off-network syndication rights and airs daily reruns of the program). Its producers, including Aaron Spelling, consider it wholesome family viewing, incorporating public service announcements into the show. 7th Heaven will now be shown on the CW.

Product Placements

Early on in the series, then Chrysler Corporation had strong ties with the show, in which the Camden family drove a continually updated Dodge Grand Caravan which continued though the 10th season . An episode in the third dealt featured Simon winning a Dodge Viper. In the 7th episode of the 10th season, "Soup's On", Campbell's Soup received a great deal of obvious product placement, with the all of the words "Campbell's Labels for Education" said aloud multiple times. This product placement actually lasted for a few episodes. In the 4th to last episode of the tenth season, "Secrets", Nabisco Oreo Cookies got a product placement - serving as a major plot device. Since the production costs of 7th Heaven are so high now, TPTB most likely had to resort to such product placements just to break even on the production budget.

Future on CW

The WB announced in November 2005 that the 10th season would be the last for the show due to high costs, despite strong ratings. However, possibly in March 2006, the core cast were approached about the possibility of returning for another year on the show.

Sources close to the production of the show have said that 7th Heaven will be picked up for an 11th season on The CW (as of May 12, 2006) ^*.

"7th Heaven, the longest-running family drama in television history, in a surprising move, will return for its 11th season on the new CW network this fall. ^*.

7th Heaven's pick up in the 11th hour caused a stir in the Everwood Community, as CW's President had to pick either Everwood or 7th Heaven. 7th Heaven was chosen while Everwood was not.

The June 23, 2006, death of producer Aaron Spelling has brought forth rumors of the actual return of the series. As far as the general public knows, the series is still being filmed over the summer.

In a recent TV Guide article, it has been stated that Mackenzie Rosman and David Gallagher will not appear on the 11th season.

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