7th Heaven

7th Heaven is a U.S. television series about a minister's family living in the fictional town of Glenoak in California. It was created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The show has been record-breaking for its parent network, WB in that it is about to enter its 10th 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 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.

Related Topics:
Moral - Drinking problem - Addiction - Story arcs - Menopause - Training bra - Conservative

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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.

Related Topics:
Very special episode - January 24 - 2005 - 2003

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