7th Heaven

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7th Heaven is an American television series about a pastor's family living in the fictional town of Glen Oak, California. It was created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The series premiered on Monday August 26, 1996, on the WB Network, the first time that the WB aired Monday night programming. The series finale was scheduled for May 8, 2006; however, the show was renewed by the CW Network when the intended final episode received high ratings. The eleventh and final season premiered on September 25, 2006 and ended on May 13, 2007.

The main cast of 7th Heaven

• Stephen Collins as Eric Camden
• Catherine Hicks as Annie Camden
• Barry Watson as Matt Camden (recurring 2003-2006; starring 1996-2002)
• David Gallagher as Simon Camden (recurring 2003-2005; starring 1996-2003; 2005-2006)
• Jessica Biel as Mary Camden-Rivera (recurring 2000-2001; 2002-2003; 2006; starring 1996-2000; 2001-2002)
• Beverley Mitchell as Lucy Camden-Kinkirk
• Mackenzie Rosman as Ruthie Camden (1996-2006; 2006-2007 {episodes 228-243})
• Nikolas Brino as Sam Camden (2001-2007) {the role originally played by all four Brino Quads before Season 6}
• Lorenzo Brino as David Camden (2001-2007) {the role originally played by all four Brino Quads before Season 6}
• Happy as Happy
• Rachel Blanchard as Roxanne Richardson (starring 2002-2004)
• Haylie Duff as Sandy Jameson (starring 2005-2007)
• Tyler Hoechlin as Martin Brewer (starring 2003-2007)
• Scotty Leavenworth as Peter Petrowski (recurring 2002-2006; starring 2003-2004)
• Jeremy London as Chandler Hampton (starring 2002-2004)
• Chaz Lamar Shephard as John Hamilton (recurring 1996-1999; starring 1999-2001)
• Ashlee Simpson as Cecilia Smith (starring 2002-2004)
• Geoff Stults as Ben Kinkirk (recurring 2001-2002; 2006; starring 2002-2003)
• George Stults as Kevin Kinkirk (recurring 2002; starring 2002-2007)
• Sarah Thompson as Rose (starring 2005-2006)

Recurring cast and characters

• Andrea Ferrell as Heather (1996-2004; 2006)
• Maureen Flannigan as Shana Sullivan (1998; 1999-2000; 2002)
• Adam LaVorgna as Robbie Palmer (1999; 2000-2002)
• Sarah Danielle Madison as Dr. Sarah Glass-Camden (2002-2006)
• Carlos Ponce as Carlos Rivera (1998; 2003-2006)
• Kyle Searles as Mac (2004-2007)
• Megan Henning as Meredith Davies (2004-2005)
• Alyssa & Hannah Yadrick as Savannah Kinkirk (2005-2007) {only officially credited in Season 11}
• Colton James as Theodore "T-Bone" (2006-2007)
• Sarah Wright as Jane (2006-2007)
• Andrea Morris as Margaret (2006-2007)

Premise

Denomination

The central characters are Eric Camden (Stephen Collins), his wife Annie (Catherine Hicks), and their seven children Matt (Barry Watson), Mary (Jessica Biel), Lucy Camden-Lucy (Beverley Mitchell), Simon (David Gallagher), Ruthie (Mackenzie Rosman) and the twins David (Lorenzo Brino) and Sam (Nikolas Brino). "Reverend Camden" is the senior pastor of the Glen Oak Community Church, whose Protestant denomination is typically never disclosed (with the exception of an episode that was narrated by Simon in season eight; in a season 11 episode in which Annie comments on how Protestants cannot have a confession; in season six episode 15 when Matt tells Sarah Glass that his father is Protestant). In most episodes, any Christian element remains ostentatiously unstated.

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 south Hollywood (Studio City). Although the logo display was likely unintentional, there appears to be nothing about the Camdens' brand of Christianity that would be negated if they were not a part of the Disciples of Christ.

In an earlier online show guide from Warner Brothers Television, the back story for Eric Camden described him as being an Episcopal priest leading, with his bishop's permission, a non-denominational church.

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 thereafter 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 Glen Oak more than once, as well as being married and divorced. Unlike the others, which appeared again throughout the show, she was the only Camden who 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. 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, to announce her spur-of-the-moment marriage, she did not appear again until the season ten finale on May 8, 2006. On the other hand, Matt and Simon have regularly found themselves involved with the family since they moved out and Simon returned regularly in season ten.

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 and politically conservative Protestant Christian point of view (devoting almost the whole 9th season to the alleged need not to have pre-marital sex while, however, several pre-marital episodes occur, including a 10th season episode where Eric mentions that his parents had to marry because his mother became pregnant with him and most recently Ruthie disclosing that she lost her virginity while in Europe over the summer, although it was revealed to be a lie), although the series so far has avoided touching "hot button" issues (i.e. affirmative action, abortion, contraception and homosexuality). A 2004 episode about the importance of voting on election day seemed to suggest that men in the family were voting for incumbent president George W. Bush, while the women were voting for Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, although the script went out of the way to make sure that no mention of either candidate was ever made directly by name, leaving the viewer to decide and the message of the episode simply being "vote, no matter who you vote for". 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.

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.

Changes in the show's tone

Many long-time viewers noticed a gradual change in the tone of the show throughout the years. In the early seasons, Eric and Annie were very strict with their children, often harshly or strictly lecturing them for minor (by most families' standards) offenses. The show also had a more dramatic tone in earlier seasons, featuring very serious issues in each episode, such as alcoholism and self-mutilation. In later seasons, however, Eric and Annie were much more laid back, and the show had a lighter, more comic, tone to it. Because of Aaron Spelling's death, this is the last production under the Spelling brand name. It is thought that CBS would retire the Spelling name after 7th Heaven ended its run, out of respect for its namesake.

Jessica Biel's departure

Jessica Biel played 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 of whiyyhch the producers of the show did not approve. 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 behavior. 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 "Charlie" Miguel Rivera 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 nine 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 from 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 Mary's reunion with the family would take place during Matt and Sarah's graduation ceremony. All of this brought resolution to the estrangement that had been present since the fifth season.

In the 11th season premiere it is revealed that Mary had the twin girls over the summer. She and Carlos also returned to New York for reasons unknown. She got a job teaching and was going to coach basketball for two months. Later on in the season Annie unexpectedly visited Mary to help with the kids while she taught the girls basketball team.

Ratings

7th Heaven was the most watched TV series ever on the WB. It holds the record for the WB's most watched hour at 12.5 million viewers, on February 8, 1999, 19 of the WB's 20 most watched hours were from 7th Heaven. No other WB series has had as much success as 7th Heaven. On May 8, 2006, it was watched by 7.56 million viewers, the highest rating for the WB since January 2005. However, on the CW, ratings dropped. This was most likely because for six months it was advertised, heavily, as the last episode ever. The CW hardly ever advertised for it, with no billboards or bus stops and few commercials. It moved 7th Heaven to Sunday nights, and, as a result, its season average is 3.3 million, losing 36% of the previous year's audience. It at the time, was the third most watched scripted show on the CW. Overall, it was the seventh most watched show.

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, considered it wholesome family viewing, incorporating public service announcements]] into the show. 7th Heaven is now shown on the CW. The show wrapped production on the final episode March 8, 2007, which is about month before most shows film their last episodes of the season. This was due largely to the fact that after ten years of working together, the actors, producers and crew had gotten production down to a well oiled machine, slashing costs repeatedly and routinely coming in well under budget. This resulted in 7th Heaven filming episodes in shorter time during the final seasons, explaining why the show stopped filming earlier than other network dramas.

2006 renewal

After much deliberation within the now-defunct WB network, it was made public in November 2005 that the tenth season would be the program's final because of high costs, which later turned out to be no fault of the show's very low budget itself, but rather due to a poorly negotiated licensing agreement renewal by the WB network itself a few years earlier. Regardless, because of this, the program's future was hanging in the balance, and it was entirely in the hands of the newly-established CW network whether to renew it for an eleventh seasonal run. In March 2006, the main cast of characters was approached about the possibility of returning for an eleventh season.

After further consideration by the CW network, it was decided -- three days after the airing of its "series finale" -- that 7th Heaven would be picked up for an eleventh season, which would air on their network, preserving the Monday-night slot that had helped make it famous. In an article elaborating on the decision, John Consoli of Mediaweek said:

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

Along with the show's unexpected, and last-minute, renewal came some changes. The show's already ultra low budget was moderately trimmed, forcing salary cuts among the cast and some episodes to be filmed in six days, instead of seven. Furthermore, Mackenzie Rosman, who played youngest daughter Ruthie Camden, had enrolled full time in high school and was not seen in the first six episodes, after appearing in every episode of the series prior to that, and even Catherine Hicks missed three episodes in the 11th season. Stephen Collins and Beverley Mitchell are the only two original cast members to appear in every single episode of 7th Heaven.

Also, after always airing Monday nights at 8/7c for its entire run, including two episodes from its 11th season, The CW unexpectedly moved 7th Heaven to Sunday nights in October 2006. The Sunday/Monday lineup-swap was attributed to mediocre ratings on both nights. While 7th Heaven did improve in numbers over the CW's previous Sunday night programming, it never quite hit its Monday night momentum again, and the shows that replaced it in its slot on Monday night never matched what it had achieved in that time slot.

External links

• Final Season Goodbye - Spelling Family Blog
• Official CW site
• "7th Heaven" at Yahoo! TV