“7th Heaven”- a television show that has been running and rerunning for the past ten years has recently gained a lot of criticism and its loyal fans are often looked down upon as having bad taste. It is a rather unrealistic, yet genuine show about a large family where the father is a priest and the mother runs the household. Over the years we (the fans) have been watching the characters grow up, we went on dates with the kids as they went through their teenage years, participated in family arguments and above all, shared the love they have for each other and their parents. We were there when Mary (the oldest daughter) trashed the gym and got sent to live with her grandparents. And we were there when little Lucy got her first period. Reverend Camden (the father) is often disliked for being nosy and the show is often criticized for being unrealistic. People complain that it isn’t fair that Eric (father) is able to support a family of nine, live in a fancy house provided by the church, and have enough funds and room to house the numerous guests who make their way into their house one way or another. I, however think that the appeal of the show is not that some aspects of their lives are unrealistic. It is the human interactions that make the show rewarding, it is the love between the characters, and desire to help others, and of course it is the typical teenage behavior and mistakes that produce a little smile (or smirk) that brings its audience back for more. Like kids of every generation, the Camden kids lie to their parents only to get busted (or ratted out) in the end. They face bullies in school (Simon), they play sports (Mary), and they get overly emotional and unreasonable (Lucy) craving attention and understanding. It is these common everyday moments that make us smile.
While the show did in fact fall into a pattern that may have bored some, because it has run as long as it did, watching it has become a part of people’s lives. As I grew older, and went from one graduation to another, to nearing my fourth, the characters of “7th Heaven” have also grown, matured, and moved on. Simon (David Gallagher) is my age, and so I always felt that he is my peer, and coincidentally he went away to college the same year I did. Lately with the disappearance of the WB network the show was thought to be too costly to produce and it was to be taken off the air. However, due to strong numbers of viewers glued to their TVs during the final episode, and the consistent numbers throughout the season, the producers decided to bring it back.”7th Heaven” remains a favorite not because it may be lame or somewhat unrealistic. People watch it because of its purity and because they truly care about the characters.
