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

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1996 American TV series or program
7th Heaven
File:7thHeavenLogo.gif
Created byBrenda Hampton
StarringSee Cast and Characters below
Country of originUSA
No. of episodes221 (At least another 22 episodes ordered)
Production
Executive producersBrenda Hampton
Aaron Spelling
E. Duke Vincent
Running time60 minutes
Original release
NetworkThe WB (1996-2006) The CW (2006-)
ReleaseAugust 26, 1996 –
Present

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 8, 2006, but in a very rare occurrence (most shows that have their series finale never return) the program was renewed by the new CW Television Network after that episode experienced high ratings. The 11th season will premiere on September 25th, 2006.

The series premiered on Monday, August 26, 1996 on the WB Television Network, the first time that the WB aired Monday night programming, and lasted from 1996-2006 on The WB. Remarkably, the series remained in that timeslot throughout its run, 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 for eight straight years, since 1998. 7th Heaven also holds the record for the WB's most watched hour - 12.5 million viewers - set on February 8, 1999 "In Praise of Women" when the series welcomed the birth of twins Sam and David Camden.


Episodes

See: List of 7th Heaven episodes

Cast and characters

File:7th Heaven Cast.gif
The cast of 7th Heaven as of season six

Regular cast and characters, as of the show's 10th season:

Recurring cast and characters

Premise

Template:Spoiler

Denomination

The central characters are "Reverend Eric Camden," his wife Annie, and their seven children. "Reverend Camden" is minister to the Glenoak Community Church, whose Protestant denomination is never disclosed. In most episodes any Christian element remains ostentatiously unstated, and indeed the actual word "Jesus" is mentioned very infrequently. One may however rule out many US fundamentalist denominations from the fact Lucy has become a clergywoman, given that many American Protestant denominations do not permit women to occupy a clerical position.

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 back story 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 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 Camden's. 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). 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. 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 storyline, 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).


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 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 Camden's 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 Camden's 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 Mary's reunion with the family 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, considered 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 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 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 the CW

After much deliberation within the now-defunct WB, it was made public in November 2005 that the tenth season would be the programme's final. Because of this, the programme'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 of 2006, the centric cast of characters were approached about the possibility of returning for an eleventh season.

After further circumspection by the CW network, it was divulged at last that 7th Heaven would be picked up for an eleventh season, which would air on their network, preserving the Monday-night slot that had bolstered it unto fame. . In an article proffering word as to 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." .

7th Heaven's being annexed to the CW network seemed to cause quite a stir within the circle of Everwood fans, for network president, Dawn Ostroff, who was formerly the President of Entertainment of UPN, had to choose between Everwood and 7th Heaven, opting for the latter of the two.

The death of series producer, Aaron Spelling, on June the 23rd of 2006, summoned rumors as to the actual return of the series. But, to public wit, the eleventh season was filmed over the summer of 2006 without much complication, and is to make its seasonal premiere on September the 25th of 2006.

In a recent article by Entertainment Weekly magazine, it was announced that the show would feature a full season of 22 episodes - after initially having a renewal of just 13 episodes - and that Mackenzie Rosman (Ruthie Camden), would return for seven of those episodes, while David Gallagher (Simon Camden) opted not to renew his contract.

DVD Releases

On August 31 2006, tvshowsondvd.com released the cover art for 7th Heaven Season 3 and mentioned that there would be a change in the packaging for the season 3 DVD as is evident from the cover art issued by CBS/Paramount.

DVD Name Cover Art Release Date Discs Ep #
The Complete First Season The Complete First Season September 14 2004 6 22
The Complete Second Season The Complete Second Season February 8 2005 6 22
The Complete Third Season The Complete Third Season November 28 2006 6 22
  • The DVDs do not contain special features.

Trivia

  • 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 canceled its core series simply to cut expenses.
  • A January 17, 2006 report in the Hollywood Reporter confirmed that the WB was canceling the series in response to the $16 million loss it was taking on the program.
  • 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. 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.
  • The series premiered on Monday, August 26, 1996 on The WB.
  • 7th Heaven also holds the record for the WB's most watched hour - 12.5 million viewers - set on February 8, 1999.
  • 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.
  • 19 of the WB's 20 top rated hours of prime-time television have been 7th Heaven episodes.
  • 7th Heaven is the only returning CW show to finish last season with more viewers than when it began.

International Broadcasts


External links


7th Heaven
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