User reviews

I never watched "7th heaven" until a friend recommended it to me. I got curious and decided to watch it the next time it was on tv. Although I did enjoy the first episodes, later on I had the feeling everything was much to perfect in the Camden family. Expecially the later seasons are so extreme in "good and evil" The Camden children have problems but there always seems to be the perfect solution to everything. The smaller children make statements that they would never use in real life I believe, and sometimes it's just to unrealistic to be good.

If you like movies or series that are -all- about family values than 7th heaven is your thing. For me it just isn't realistic enough to enjoy it.

"7th Heaven" came about not long after the WB network launched. There are good parts to it while I only lasted 2 seasons or 3 then had enough. The Camden family are an idyllic bunch who manage to solve every problem in an episode or the one after. There's a line between ethical and uptight and this family is the latter. I had enough of the heavy lecturing. I don't remember if I watched when a whole show made a big deal about one of the daughters (Mary) smoking! Like the world was going to end or something. That could have been one of many reasons Jessica Biel rebelled against her Mary Camden character off-screen by taking racy magazine pictures (Gear), then eventually left. Now Biel is the only former cast member still heard about.

If you read through the comments already posted (and there are many), you'll see that most people are very strongly polarized... people either love this show or hate it.

I, for one, am somewhere in the middle of the road about it.

It is heavy-handed. It takes an 'issue of the week', and involves each member of the family in some aspect of that issue... fidelity, drug use, abstinence from sex before marriage... then wraps everything up in a nice neat package before the end of the episode.

The way the issues are dealt with are both shallow and heavy-handed. You never have any doubt in your mind what issue the writers are bringing up this week; you never have any doubt what they thing the "right" thing to do is.

At the same time...

We're looking inside of a family that seems to genuinely care about each other. There's a father who's involved with his children, siblings who look after each other, and a mother who obviously loves her children... and her husband, even after seven children.

Yes, Matt needs a punch in the nose. Mary could stand a valium perscription. Lucy needs a little more maturity. And so on. But...

But I keep watching this show, episode after episode.

And I'm not entirely sure why.

This show is so full of double standards, hypocritical characters, and holier the thou attitudes. I can't even watch a commercial anymore.

The way the parents spy on their children and their ridiculous over the top reactions is laughable.

It they are "moral", than I don't know if I want to be in that category.

It is kind of scary to me to think some people actually think these are good people with good morals.

I am not surprise that most of the children have flown the coupe as fast as they could.

I think this show jumped the shark somewhere around season 5 and I stopped watching after that. In fact, it went in a completely different direction that didn't even make sense. Everything I'm about to say regards only up to the end of season 4 The show is about a pastor and his family but is not very religious. It is about family that has an awful lot of kids but doesn't promote that. In some episodes have to defend "all those children" even. There is definitely gender based stereotyping going on although they did try to expand the SAHM being more than just a cook/clean/kids -- she's also a plumber/carpenter ... they tried. The plots are simple and solutions are too easy but I loved this show. It is campy and I love campy. The kids are close and defend one another. Pastor expands his role to community counselor / social worker and gets involved in neighbors / parishoners / kids' friends lives. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone paying attention and subtly, politely helping people address their issues. If more pastors were this way, I'd probably have a more positive attitude toward religion.

No, really, that about sums up my opinion of this show, but I guess I'll elaborate.

I'm so sick and tired of these so-called 'morality' shows. If I had kids and wanted to teach them a thing or two about life, I'd tell them to read a friggin' book or ten, not subject themselves to this mind-numbing piece of steaming crap.

I've noticed most people who defend this show are Christians, and as much as I'd love to do some well-placed bashing, I won't, because I happen to have a lot of friends who are Christians and yet laugh themselves silly at the idiocy that is "7th Heaven". Kids who ask their parents permission to have sex? Daughters who ask their mother to find them someone to date? Are we living in the same planet here? Let us please refrain from extremities... Things in life aren't all black and white. The way this show presents it, you're only a nice person if you believe in a personal god, NEVER touch alcohol, NEVER swear, NEVER smoke, and --of course- have sex only after you marry. Everyone else is scum and should either revert to the 'righteous path' or burn in Christian hell. Can ya scream "Get off your high horse?" To add insult to injury, this show isn't even worth your attention despite the forced-upon morality. The plots are recycled and uninspired, the characters are two-dimensional cardboard cut-outs, and the writing is horrid and contrived.

And to all those people who defend this show by saying that it teaches kids a thing or two when compared to other shows... F*** that. Since when did mediocrity, denial, misogyny, propaganda and bigotry become good examples for your children?

So as the title says, this is a review of the reviews.

I wonder where these reviewers were when the show was on the air? They pretend it wasn't a highly successful, highly rated show that lasted 11 seasons making it one of less than 30 prime time TV shows that ever ran as long.

There were a lot of reasons for the success of the show and there seem to be a lot of people who hate that others enjoyed those reasons; an intact family, a religious bent, involved & dedicated parents, etc.

7th Heaven was a terrific show and if it was a low rated as the reviewers give it, it wouldn't have lasted one season, let alone eleven,

I'm not religious, but my husband is, so 7th Heaven was one of our go-to shows. As a teenager, I remember watching Eight Is Enough, and I saw similarities between the two

The Good

• the show was clean entertainment
• some of the storylines were relevant to parentine
• there was an actual storyline arc for each character

The Bad

• the show ran too long
• in later seasons, not all the characters were in that many episodes so it felt empty at times

It was good clean entertainent without being overly preachy, following the trials and tribulations of a family. It is unfortunate, that because of Stephen Collins' personal issues, some networks refuse to show reruns.

There's obviously something to this show that is redeemable because if there wasn't it wouldn't have been on the air as long as it was. Sure some episodes were slow or corny but others were very hard hitting dealing with some tough subjects like death, drugs, premarital sex and more. I don't always agree with the way the parents handle situations. In fact, I often find myself getting frustrated and yelling at my television screen at least once in every episode for the poor way parenting was handled. Why Ruthie wasn't punished more for some of the things she did left me scratching my head. What kind of example is that to spoil your youngest child by not punishing them when they deserve it? In fact, mom rarely checks up on her and this is why she always seems to be getting into mischief.

Simon's character is great. A kid with a lot of questions who does a great job looking out for his younger sister. But having them live in the same room was creepy, especially as they moved into season 2 and Simon was now in Jr. High. Totally inappropriate to be living with his younger sister at that point. His parents seriously had no discernment about that?

Then there is Lucy. Her constant need for the attention of a guy seems to scream that her parents, especially her dad does not spend enough quality time with her. Seems she's always rebelling. Yet her parents do not see the need to do something to change that.

Mary's character is pretty boring. It's sad she's always jumping around dating different guys just to see how they kiss. Are her parents seriously wanting her to be that shallow when it comes to the opposite sex? The fact they let her go on kissing a guy in their living room without coming up for air didn't teach her a thing about where that leads. It's almost like the parents are not around investing in their kids lives and talking to them about deep subjects and addressing their kids insecurities.

And then there is Matt. Great kid trying to do the right thing but it doesn't always work. And sadly he can do nothing to please his dad.

And I don't like that they made the dad a pastor. I wish they had just left religion out of the show if they were not going to be authentic about it. He never preaches sermons talking about Jesus or reading much of the Bible. He could have been a Unitarian Universalist leader for what they made him out to be. As a pastor, seriously no lessons he gave his kids from Scripture? That just didn't seem realistic. But then again, the writers were not Christians trying to make a Christian show. But they could have done better than what I've seen so far.

It's not a Christian show ... it's a show about Christians. This show isn't meant to preach to people. It's meant to show that even Christians have ups and downs. I loved watching it growing up and have rewatched some of it on Hulu

I saw this on afternoon TV a while ago and i sat the whole show with my mouth open with disbelief. From the theme song to the styled kids and the cutesy acting this has got to be some of the most awful television i have ever seen.

The most surprising thing i guess is that this is even shown on television outside of America. I guess there are parts of the world where this would still qualify as entertainment, but i have purposely kept myself very far from those parts. Besides being moralizing garbage this also has some of the most unbelievably shallow characters i have ever seen. Just looking at them tickles my gag reflex. I mean, what's up with that little girl? She's like six years old, wearing a ton of makeup looking constantly like she's the star of an ad for toothpaste.

This was seriously awful stuff. Heavy-handed medieval Christian morals packaged into a family-oriented afternoon entertainment format. Seeing that this show actually ran for ten years is... beyond belief. Seeing this i wonder what the shows are like that never even make it outside America.

I used to be a regular viewer of 7th Heaven, but after a while there were so many convoluted subplots that I just had to give up. The main family itself is huge, but when you add about 15 side characters the relationships become a bit too hard to follow. Also, I really got tired of how every episode became some political preaching about the latest controversy or hot button issue. In one episode, Ruthie writes letters to a U.S. soldier who is stationed in Afghanistan. Then she gets all worried when the guy stops writing back, and the preacher father ends the episode by reciting a sermon about America's heroes. Now, I'm all for being patriotic and all that jazz, but that entire episode seemed to be written in about five minutes and tacked onto the season just so the staff could win an Emmy. I'm willing to bet money that the writers just open up the paper to the Opinion section, close their eyes, point at a random story, and then write a script based on the issue. Going back to how complicated the show has gotten, I'd just like to note that it is very frustrating when the characters have boyfriends and girlfriends so many times in a season that you have no idea what's even happening any more. Seriously, you can skip one episode and someone will be married/divorced/pregnant/in a coma the next week. Talk about drastically changing plot lines! Now I'd like to talk about the most unintentionally hilarious episode, AKA the one that discussed the issue of marijuana. I could not believe how politically charged this one episode was, and my jaw was literally on the floor at how exaggerated the story was presented. Basically, the dad discovers a joint in the laundry (correct me if I'm wrong), and instantly starts eyeballing every one of his children. He becomes so paranoid and mistrusting that it's ridiculous. When he sees that Matt is eating more than two or three cookies, the camera zooms in on his sweaty, worried face. Why, Matt must have (gasp!) THE MUNCHIES! Dun, dun, DUN! Then one of the girls is acting tired. Why, she must be (gasp) HIGH! Dun, dun, DUN!! I mean, come ON! He even suspects Ruthie, who was probably 6-years-old at the time. Talk about overreacting. So anyway, the dad drags his wife into the bedroom and they discuss who might have brought the joint home. "Did you see Matt wolfing down those cookies? That's a sure-fire sign of (gasp!) THE MUNCHIES!" the dad whispers, afraid that his Christian neighbors will hear him. We then learn that the wife smoked some pot in college, and the dad literally freaks out. He comes this close to disowning his wife because she hit a couple of doobies when she was younger. Yes, God forbid someone does drugs when they're in college. I say, anyone who smokes weed is evil. EVIL, ya hear me?! So the dad puts the joint in his dresser drawer for safe keeping, and minutes later one of his daughters finds it while looking for something to wear. GASP! She thinks her parents are smoking the wacky weed! Ah, the wackiness that comes with family sitcoms. The show draws to a close when it is discovered that Matt had the joint, which leads to him running off somewhere. The mom and dad search the town only to find that he is praying in church. That's right, he's praying to God and spilling his guts about how he was just "holding" the joint for a friend. Uh, RIGHT. The credits roll after the mom and dad embrace their tearful son, a lesson learned by all. In short, GAG ME. Other issues discussed by Seventh Heaven include: listening to rap music is BAD, having sex is BAD, etc. Sheesh, whatever happened to just running a regular episode? Does every single show have to bery Very Special? Blech. I say this show be canned before the writers create an episode where Simon learns about the evils of homosexuality via a sinister uncle character. 0/4 stars

When I was a kid, I buddied with a kid whose parents were incredibly strict with his film and television viewings. I had the misfortune of sitting through one-too-many episodes of this terrible show. How this managed to stay on the air so long BOGGLES my mind, truly.

I am just watching the fifth season, as Sweden doesn't have been airing 7th heaven so far. Of what I've seen, I understand why people think 7th heaven is too melodramatic, bad acting and boring stories. But I don't think it is so, myself, even though I understand why people think so. I think it is a good TV show that tells much about how the community works, how it is like being a teenager and all problems that is occurring when you are a teenager. 7th heaven is a very current TV show as it tells much about drugs, college life, future, teen pregnancy, siblings, poverty, war and love, faith, joy and sorrow. It is just an ordinary TV show. And bad acting, why do people have to act? It is a TV show about a family, do they have to act? Well, maybe, but anyway, they are not acting bad. In particular, David Gallagher, Beverly Mitchell and Barry Watson are acting excellent. ¨

It is an ordinary family located in Glenoak, CA, but what divides this family from others is that the father is a priest. He is raising together with his wife up all their five children, that is increased to seven as the twins Sam and David are born in the 3rd season, of all different ages. It tells about Matt's way from high school to college and later to work, Mary's way from excellent basketball player in high school, to down-fall and to work, Lucy's way from junior high to high school to college and to being a mother, Simon's way from middle school to junior high to high school and last to college and Ruthie's way from pre school to kindergarten to elementary school to private school and to high school. It also tells the twins David and Sam growing from toddlers to pre school children. It also tells about funerals, how it is like losing somebody you love, love troubles, dates and marriage.

Of course, there are TV shows that deserve more attention, but 7th heaven is good in all ways - it tells social problems, how parent-child relations work, how it is like to raise up children and sibling fights, to have a model to look up to and a lot of other stuff. It may be a TV show with moral aspects, but it's a TV show that is very honest. It tells that nobody is perfect, that they can make mistakes sometimes, that mistakes can influence one's life, also to bad things, and that even richer people can be unhappy and that parents also make mistakes sometimes.

Some favorite episodes in each season:

Season 1 - #6 (Halloween), #13 (America's Most Wanted) and the final episodes #21 and #22 (Dangerous Liaisons 1 & 2)

Season 2 - #32 (Truth or dare) and the final episodes #43 and #44 (Boyfriends... and girlfriends)

Season 3 - #45 (It takes two, Baby), #46 (Drunk like me) and the final episodes #65 and #66 (There Goes the Bride part one and two)

Season 4 - #73 (Sin...part one) and #74 (...Expiation part two) and the final episodes #87 and #88 (Love Stinks part one and two).

Season 5 - The final episodes #109 (Chances) and #110 (Are).

The Camden parents are constantly stalking their kids and pushing them away because they have the nerve to live life without telling them everything. The kids constantly lie about little things and overall this seems realistic of religious families to me- having known children whose parents are nosy self-righteous ministers and gossipy self-righteous wives.

Every situation is blown out of proportion and the whole show does not make Christianity appear to be an appealing option for young people who are experimenting in their "finding a purpose" stage of life. As the siblings grow older they also join in on the stalking and nosing into the business of their younger siblings- like they are the moral compasses in the world. Also, the fact that the father feels bad as subsequent kids don't blindly choose to follow in his footsteps and be ministers shows the truth behind the indoctrination into religions (i.e. kids do everything their parents want without thinking about it).

If you are a family member who "rebels" by smoking a cigarette, having sex or even kissing a boy who your parents don't know (because they're overbearing and you have hidden him from them and lied) etc- then you are pushed away until you beg forgiveness or get sent to a psychiatrist (where you also lie and or just turn up and then leave). Even if the actors did "something wrong" (being paid to model- Jessical Biel) in their private lives outside of acting they were punished and ousted like the "devils" they are.

These nosy parents don't ever learn and they keep being overbearing throughout the whole series- even after self-righteous "Annie Speeches" that include the words "We need to let them come to us when they're ready" and "maybe they don't feel comfortable telling us" (ya think?). They're slow and I guess the producers are also ministers because they don't ever develop those parents beyond snooping stalkers.

Growing up, I wrote this show off due to its religious undertones. But as an adult , a parent in my mid thirties , I revisited the series when I saw it on amazon and ABSOLUTELY fell in the love . Especially if you're someone who wasn't fortunate enough to grow up with a good family , this show can be your safe haven (like it is for me ) Even though I'm vehemently against organized religion, I was able to compartmentalize that because I admired the way everybody in the show communicated. So healthy , so respectful, so mature ! You gotta understand, in the entertainment world, with its sea of overwhelming degeneracy , a show like this that teaches people how to interact lovingly and with respect, it's TRULY a breath of fresh air!

However , I do agree with other reviewers who talked about Lucy , she is incredibly annoying and over the top and the show could've really done without all that . Highly recommended family show , or guilty pleasure to watch alone and relish the nostalgia of the 90s/early 2000s.

Worst show ever!!! Just stay away!!! Do not watch even for fun!!! It is so annoying that you may actually go on watching it just out of curiosity. I was curious for along time. "How much worst is it going to get?" , I was wondering. And it kept on surprising me. Until one day Jessica left the show. I am not a masochist , so I stop watching it. Seriously, not only it is awful but it is scary too. I could not believe that there are actually people in America thinking the same way the Camdens think. I could not believe that there are people defending their president for his crimes to humanity and I can not believe there are still people that consider sex to be a crime. I can not understand why Americans try so hard to make people from other countries to hate them. Why? Why dear Americans you want us to hate you? Stop making disgusting TV shows that offend our intelligence , PLEASE. GO on making shows like "arrested development" or "friends". Thanks!

Now in my mid 30's this show is completely different than what I remember growing up watching it during dinner. Being an adult opens your eyes that this series spoke about a lot of stuff Christian family's do not like talking about.

It helps guide parents on communication with their children and honestly trying to communicative as a unit. I really find that most important let alone having God be invoiced too. Now there are some things that annoyed me but overall, who cares. Since the series is great.

..who cares about anything else, i love the house. Man, i love American houses. The view itself gives a cozy feeling.

But thats it.

For some unknown reason, this show has been running for a long time here in Macedonia. And tons and tons of reruns. And its on one of the best programs, not on the national television that often puts crappy shows on the list because their budget is draining. I usually catch an episode or two during the week, and definitely watch it on Sunday, on that day i simply don't bother enough to avoid anything. Its Sunday, the lunch is slowly cooking, people are laughing all around you, who gives a damn? And so we have the lovely Camdens, glittering with their cheesy happiness on my screen.

I could never understand, how was it possible that Lucy and Mery, and many of the female characters shown, were so shallow and kind-of slutty, mainly worrying about guys and having 10 dates with different boys in a week, and on the other hand accepting many conservative and strict morale codes in the family and society around them. That classifies as hypocrisy, i believe?

For example, my religion is orthodox (although i'm not religious at all), my family leads a much more spontaneous (and passionate, filled with joy but anger too) life, i occasionally drink alcohol and i've had premarital sex, and yet, i'd never do any of the stupid mistakes these children do, and my family life is much happier, with more profound and solid values. But when it happens that i take the wrong decision, i never hide myself behind fake morality after the 'boom'. Damn it, while i watch it, i feel like the happiest person in the world because i don't live there! I laugh to tears and punch my brother for no reason, and then we laugh together!

Hypoctritic, unrealistic, fake sweet, and too conservative. So in the other countries where its running, like in mine, it gives USA filming a BAD reputation.