7th Heaven: Encyclopedia - 7th Heaven

7th Heaven

7th Heaven is a U.S. television series about a Protestant minister's family living in the fictional town of Glenoak in California. It was created and produced by Brenda Hampton.

The series premired on Monday, August 26, 1996 at 8 PM on the WB. It was the first time the WB television network aired Monday night programming. The series lasted from 1996-2006. Remarkably, the series remained in that timeslot ever since, holding its own against the 92 other series that have aired against its 10 seasons. 19 of the WB's 20 top rated hours of prime-time television have been 7th Heaven episodes.

On November 11, 2005 it was announced that, after ten seasons, 7th Heaven will end in May 2006. [1] Shortly there after, 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 for the wrong reason: simply to cut expenses.[2]

7th Heaven - Premise

7th Heaven - Denomination

The central characters are Reverend [sic] Eric Camden, his wife Annie, and their seven children. "Reverend Camden" is minister to the Glenoak Community Church. The denomination of the church is not stated but the style and content of the Sunday church services would suggest Presbyterian, Congregational, Methodist or possibly Baptist. However, the fact that there is mention of church deacons would indicate Congregational or Baptist; the fact that he is addressed and referred to as "Reverend Camden" rather than "Mr. Camden" would indicate a somewhat extreme evangelical orientation, though the occasionally mildly liberal social stances that the program espouses confuse the issue. If the congregation were Baptist one might expect to hear Camden referred to from time to time as the "pastor." Possibly this mixture of denominational indicators is a deliberate attempt to avoid characterising the church as affiliated with any one historic tradition. Or it could merely indicate inadequate research and knowledge by the writers.

7th Heaven - 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. Nevertheless, the house is always full; Lucy, her husband Kevin, and their daughter Savannah all live near the Camdens, as do daughter Ruthie, and son Simon. 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 Mary has not appeared in an episode of the series since September 22, 2003 (see below). On the other hand, Matt and Simon have regularly found themselves involved with the family since they moved out and Simon (David Gallagher) returned for the final season.

7th Heaven - 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 very conservative/Christian point of view. 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.

Factually, 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 8 million viewers - the highest WB rating since 2003.

7th Heaven - 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 like. 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. Her last appearance to date was the second episode of the eighth season, which aired on September 22, 2003, when she revealed to the family that she had married old boyfriend Carlos Rivera (Carlos Ponce) and was pregnant. Due to her decision not to return to the show, 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. Biel is not expected to return during the tenth season, but her on-screen husband Carlos Ponce, who has made several appearances in the last two seasons, will return for a few episodes.

7th Heaven - Production

Although originally produced for FOX in 1996, the show now airs on The WB. It is produced by Spelling Television, and distributed for syndication by Paramount Network 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 - Reccurring Cast

• Christopher Michael - Sgt./Det./Cpt. Michaels
• Andrew Keegan - Wilson West
• Matthew Linville - Jimmy Moon
• Andrea Ferrell - Heather Cain
• Alan Fudge - Lou Dalton
• Eileen Brennan - Gladys Bink
• Graham Jarvis - Charles Jackson
• Laraine Newman - Rosina Glass
• Sarah Danielle Madison - Sarah Camden-Glass
• Richard Lewis - Richard Glass
• Ed Begley Jr. - Dr. Hank Hastings
• Peter Graves - "The Colonel" John Camden
• Barbara Rush - Ruth Camden
• Beverly Garland - Ginger Jackson
• Brad Maule - George Smith
• Olivia Brown - Patricia Hamilton
• Barret Swatek - Cheryl
• Dorian Harewood - Morgan Hamilton
• Nicole Cherie - Deena Stewart
• Andrea Pearson - Priscilla Carter-Hamilton
• Alicia Leigh Willis - Corey Conway-West
• Meg Wittner - Donna Cain
• Carlos Ponce -Carlos Rivera
• Kyle Searles - Mac
• Joy Enriquez - Joy Reyes
• Ashlee Simpson - Cecilia Smith

7th Heaven - Trivia

• Brothers Kevin Kinkirk and Ben Kinkirk are portrayed by real life brothers George Stults and Geoff Stults, respectively.
• Brothers Chandler Hampton and Sid Hampton (who appeared in one episode) are portrayed by real life identical twin brothers Jeremy London and Jason London.
• Both the Camden parents have appeared as central characters in Star Trek films. Stephen Collins (Rev. Camden) played Commander Willard Decker in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Catherine Hicks (Annie Camden) appeared in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home as a cetacean biologist named Dr. Gillian Taylor.
• Jessica Biel and Adam LaVorgna were once dating in real life.
• Jessica Biel is actually younger than Beverley Mitchell, despite playing the older sister on the show.
• Nikolas Brino and Lorenzo Brino are two members of a quadruplet, and all four have appeared on the show. They were chosen to always play the twins in 2001, when producers started to notice that all of the quads had begun to develop their own facial features and could not be interchanged.
• 7th Heaven has always aired in the Monday 8 PM time slot for 10 seasons - a television rarity.
• Beginning with its 10th season, 7th Heaven became the longest running family show in TV history.
• 7th Heaven has been the WB network's most watched show since the 1998-1999 television season. At one point it averaged nearly 8 million viewers per "all new" episode - which is a high number for that network.
• Stephen Collins, Catherine Hicks, Beverley Mitchell and Mackenzie Rosman are the only cast members that have appeared in every episode of the series.
• Similarly, David Gallagher has appeared in all but 24 episodes of the series. (16 in Season 8, and 8 in Season 9).

7th Heaven - Episode List

Season 1
1. Anything You Want, aired August 26, 1996
2. Family Secrets, aired September 23, 1996
3. In the Blink of an Eye aired September 30, 1996
4. No Funerals and a Wedding aired October 7, 1996
5. The Color of God aired October 14, 1996
6. Halloween aired October 28, 1996
7. Saturday aired November 4, 1996
8. What Will People Say aired November 11, 1996
9. See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil aired November 18, 1996
10. The Last Call For Aunt Julie aired November 25, 1996
11. Now You See Me aired December 16, 1996
12. With a Little Help from My Friends aired January 13, 1997
13. America's Most Wanted aired January 27, 1997
14. Seven Is Enough aired February 3, 1997
15. Happy's Valentine aired February 10, 1997
16. Brave New World aired February 17, 1997
17. Choices aired April 14, 1997
18. Faith, Hope, And The Bottom Line aired April 21, 1997
19. It's About George aired April 28, 1997
20. Say Goodbye aired aired May 5, 1997
21. Dangerous Liasons, Part 1 aired May 12, 1997
22. Dangerous Liasons, Part 2 aired May 19, 1997

Season 2
23. Don't Take My Love Away aired September 15, 1997
24. See You In September aired September 22, 1997
25. I Love You aired September 29, 1997
26. Who Knew? aired October 6, 1997
27. Says Who? aired October 13, 1997
28. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do aired October 20, 1997
29. Girls Just Want To Have Fun aired November 3, 1997
30. Do Something aired November 10, 1997
31. I Hate You aired November 17, 1997
32. Truth Or Dare aired November 24, 1997
33. Lead, Follow, Or Get Out Of The Way aired January 12, 1998
34. Rush To Judgement aired January 19, 1998
35. Stuck In the Middle With You aired January 26, 1998
36. Red Tape aired February 2, 1998
37. Homecoming aired February 9, 1998
38. It Takes A Village aired February 23, 1998
39. Nothing Endures But Change aired March 2, 1998
40. Do Something aired March 9, 1998
41. My Kinda Guy aired April 6, 1998
42. Time To Leave The Nest aired April 13, 1998
43. Boyfriends..., Part 1 aired May 4, 1998
44. ...And Girlfriends, Part 2 aired May 11, 1998

Season 3
45. It Takes Two, Baby aired September 21, 1998
46. Drunk Like Me aired September 28, 1998
47. Cutters aired October 5, 1998
48. The Legacy aired October 12, 1998
49. ...And a Nice Chianti aired October 19, 1998
50. And the Home of the Brave aired November 2, 1998
51. Johnny Get Your Gun aired November 9, 1998
52. No Sex, Some Drugs and a Little Rock 'n' Roll aired November 16, 1998
53. Let's Talk About Sex aired November 23, 1998
54. Here Comes Santa Clause aired December 14, 1998

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "7th Heaven", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki