7th Heaven

7th Heaven

7th Heaven is an Emmy-nominated American dramatelevision series, created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The series premiered on Monday August 26, 1996, on the the WB, the first time that the network aired Monday night programming, and was originally broadcast from 1996-2007. The series finale was scheduled for May 8, 2006; however, the show was renewed by the CW when the intended final episode received high ratings. The 11th and final season premiered on Monday, September 25, 2006 and ended on May 13, 2007. In January 2008, 7th Heaven started airing in syndication on The Hallmark Channel and WGN but before that, it also aired in syndication on ABC Family. 7th Heaven is the longest running series that has ever aired on The WB, the longest running family drama in television history and the longest running show produced by the late Aaron Spelling. The show tells the story about a Protestant minister's family living in the fictional town of Glenoak, California.

The central characters are the Reverend Eric Camden (Stephen Collins), his wife Annie Camden (Catherine Hicks), and their seven children Matt (Barry Watson), Mary (Jessica Biel), Lucy (Beverley Mitchell), Simon (David Gallagher), Ruthie (Mackenzie Rosman) and the twins David (Lorenzo Brino) and Sam (Nikolas Brino). The Reverend Eric Camden is the senior minister of the Glenoak Community Church, whose Protestant denomination is typically never disclosed (with the exception of an episode that was narrated by Simon in Season 8; in a Season 11 episode in which Annie comments on how Protestants can't have a confession; in Season 6 episode 15 when Matt tells Sarah Glass that his father is Protestant).

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. Although the logo display was likely unintentional, there appears to be nothing about the Camdens' brand of Christianity that would be negated if they were not a part of the Disciples of Christ. The reason for the display of the Chalice is most likely due to the rental agreement of the church. On the wall hanging left to the pulpit, the church's logo is present (blue logo with a cross/anchor symbol). The church (First Christian Church of North Hollywood), has noted that when the cast was on set, they often went into the church office to observe how church staff really act.

In an earlier online show guide from Warner Brothers Television, the back story for Eric Camden described him as being an Episcopal Priest leading, with his Bishop's permission, a non-denominational church. Some people find this interesting in light of Stephen Collins' real-life attendance at an Episcopal parish in the Pacific Palisades area.

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, Mary and Simon) moved away from home. 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 in a house behind the Camdens. 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 starting in 2000 and, after an appearance on September 22, 2003 she did not appear again until the Season 10 finale on May 8, 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 for most of the ninth season and the entire tenth season. Beverley Mitchell (Lucy) is the only star that appeared in every episode, of 7th Heaven for its entire run.

Each episode deals with a moral lesson or controversial theme that the family handles either directly or indirectly. Some range from the traumatic (e.g., Eric's sister came to visit and the children found out that she was an alcoholic) 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. The first episode involved Lucy's (lack of) period. In the later seasons, Eric had to deal with his wife entering menopause and his daughter Ruthie needing a training bra. The topics are usually approached from a socially and politically conservative Protestant Christian point of view (devoting almost all of Season 9 to the need not to have pre-marital sex while, however, several pre-marital episodes occur, including a Season 10 episode where Eric mentions that his parents had to marry because his mother became pregnant with him and most recently Ruthie disclosing that she lost her virginity while in Europe over the summer, although it was revealed to be a lie), although the series avoided 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, although the script went out of the way to make sure that no mention of either candidate was ever made directly by name, leaving the viewer to decide and the message of the episode simply being "vote, no matter who you vote for". However, in the same episode in which Matt discloses that the family is Protestant, he also discloses to Sarah that his father 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 Eric'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 played daughter Mary from the show's beginning. However, gradually dissatisfied with what she thought was her "goody goody" image, Biel eventually posed for semi-nude photographs for Gear magazine of which the producers of the show did not approve. 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 Season 6 (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 Season 7 (2002-2003), including Lucy's wedding episode and the season finale. She then appeared in the second episode of Season 8, which aired on September 22, 2003, when she revealed to the family that she had married Carlos Rivera (Carlos Ponce) whom the Camdens assisted in returning home to his family in the Christmas episode Here Comes Santa Claus in Season 3, and was pregnant with his child. 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 Camdens for the first time since the Season 7 finale Life and Death in April 2003. So she never really left.

While she was away, from 2003-2006, Mary has had major storylines off-camera, including giving birth to son Charles "Charlie" Miguel Rivera 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 tidbits 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 Season 10 with financial difficulties. However, she has clearly maintained a connection with Carlos and Charlie, and up until the divorce was made known, kept in contact with her siblings semi-regularly at least.

Her appearance in the Season 10 finale, though limited, shed light on events taking place during the last few months. Mary graduated from college the same weekend as Matt and Sarah, reunited with husband Carlos, and was 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 would take place during Matt and Sarah's graduation ceremony. All of this brought resolution to the estrangement that had been present since Season 5. In the Season 11 premiere it is revealed that Mary had the twin girls over the summer. She and Carlos also returned to New York for reasons unknown. She got a job teaching and was going to coach basketball.

Several books were published between 1997 and 2004.

CBS Home Entertainment is releasing 7th Heaven on DVD in Region 1. To date they have released the first eight seasons.

7th Heaven was the most watched TV series ever on the WB. It holds the record for the WB's most watched hour at 12.5 million viewers, on February 8, 1999; 19 of the WB's 20 most watched hours were from 7th Heaven. On May 8, 2006, it was watched by 7.56 million viewers, the highest rating for the WB since January 2005. When the show moved to the CW, ratings dropped. Possible reasons for the decline include an aired "Countdown to Goodbye" ad campaign for the last six months of the 2005-06 season which promoted that season as the final season ever; though the New CW Network announced the series' unexpected renewal, it didn't promote the new season strongly via billboards, bus stops, magazine or on-air commercials. Lastly, the network moved 7th Heaven to Sunday nights; the returning viewers may have thought the series was removed from the schedule. The show had a season average of just 3.3 million on the new network, losing 36% of the previous year's audience. It was the third most watched scripted show on the CW. Overall, it was the seventh most watched show.

Although originally produced for Fox in 1996, the show aired on The WB. It was produced by Spelling Television, and distributed for syndication by (corporate sibling) CBS Television Distribution. Its producers, including Aaron Spelling, considered it wholesome family viewing, incorporating public service announcements into the show. The final season of 7th Heaven was shown on the inaugural season of The CW. The show wrapped production on the final episode March 8, 2007 about one month before most shows film their last episodes of the season. This was due largely to the fact that after ten years of working together, the actors, producers and crew had gotten production down to a well-oiled machine, slashing costs repeatedly and routinely coming in well under budget. This resulted in 7th Heaven filming episodes in shorter time during the final seasons.

7th Heaven stopped airing on The CW Television Network in September 2007. The show then aired on the ABC Family television network until 2008. As of 2008 the show is airing on the Hallmark Channel with the new 'network-shortened' opening credits. It started airing on WGN on September 8, 2008.

After much deliberation within the now-defunct WB network, it was made public in November 2005 that the tenth season would be the program's final because of high costs, which were revealed to be due to a poorly-negotiated licensing agreement by the WB network a few years earlier. The program'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 2006, the main cast of characters were approached about the possibility of returning for an eleventh season.

After further consideration by the CW network, it was decided—three days after the airing of its "series finale"—that 7th Heaven would be picked up for an eleventh season, which would air on their network in the Monday-night slot that had helped make it famous. Originally the show was renewed for thirteen episodes, but on September 18, 2006 the renewal was extended to a full twenty-two episodes.

Along with the show's unexpected, and last-minute, renewal came some changes. The show's already-low budget was moderately trimmed, forcing cuts in the salaries of some cast members and shortened taping schedules (seven days per episode instead of the typical eight). Furthermore, Mackenzie Rosman, who played youngest daughter Ruthie Camden, did not appear in the first six episodes. She had appeared in every episode of the series prior to that. Catherine Hicks missed three episodes in Season 11, as another cost-cutting move. Additionally, for the first time since joining the cast in 2002 as a series regular, George Stults was absent for a few episodes at the beginning of Season 11. Stephen Collins and Beverley Mitchell ended up being the only two cast members to appear in every single episode of 7th Heaven's 11 seasons.

Also, after airing Monday nights at 8/7c for ten seasons, plus the first two episodes of Season 11, the CW unexpectedly moved 7th Heaven to Sunday nights as of October 15, 2006. The Sunday/Monday lineup swap was attributed to mediocre ratings of shows on both nights. While 7th Heaven did improve in numbers over the CW's previous Sunday night programming, it never quite hit its Monday-night momentum again, and the shows that replaced it in its slot on Monday night never matched what it had achieved in that time slot.

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List of 7th Heaven characters

This is a list of characters from The WB/The CW (1996-2007) family drama, 7th Heaven.

Eric and Annie Camden are a married couple. They have seven children: Dr. Matt Camden, Mary Camden- Rivera, Lucy Camden- Kinkirk, Simon Camden, Ruthie Camden, Sam Camden, and David Camden.

Reverend Eric Camden, played by Stephen Collins, is the minister of the Glen Oak Community Church, and is close friends with Reverend Morgan Hamilton. Eric attended college for five years and graduated from Kolbell Seminary. Shortly thereafter he married and began a family with Annie Jackson Camden. He also has one sister, Julie Camden-Hastings, who ended up marrying the doctor who delivered Matt and Sam and David.

Eric has been the pastor of Glen Oak Community Church in the fictional town of Glen Oak, California for over 25 years. Almost every episode of the series has involved him helping members of the community. Some of these people have been churchgoers, teens in trouble, and friends of the Camden children. Throughout the first six seasons Eric was the only acting minister of the church. During season seven, the church deacons hired Chandler Hampton, a young college graduate played by Jeremy London, as the new Associate Pastor in order to help facilitate church operations following Eric's double-bypass surgery. The sudden move was frowned upon by Eric and he left the church for six months, making an inspirational return in April 2003 by officiating the wedding of his daughter Lucy to Kevin Kinkirk. The congregation enjoyed his return. For one year Eric and Chandler worked side by side, until Chandler left the church in the Season eight finale. Soon after, Eric and Lucy worked side by side for the rest of the show. Eric is the grandfather of Savannah, Charlie, Mary's twin girls, and Matt's twin boys.

Annie Camden (née Jackson), portrayed by Catherine Hicks, has a half-sister named Lily, the daughter of Charles Jackson. Her mother was Jenny Jackson. During her college education, Annie studied everything from art to business and economics, and in later seasons returned to school to earn her Masters. Jenny Jackson dies early in the first season from cancer (leukemia). Annie was hit hard for her death and then by her father's bounce into a relationship with Ginger. Eventually Annie accepts Ginger and sees her father marry her. Charles Jackson suffered from Alzheimer's and eventually passed away. Annie gave birth to twins in season three.

Though she has chosen to be a stay-at-home mother, Annie is a jack-of-all-trades. She balances a family of nine on a minister's pay, is a plumber, builder, seamstress, cook, and much more. She also serves from time to time as the treasurer for the church. Annie is the backbone of her family. The mother of seven, she is often the one the children come to talk to, often over milk and cookies. A grandmother of six, she tries with her husband to instill strong morals in her children. Notwithstanding her upright nature as an adult mother and grandmother, several references are made in the course of the series to a wild adolescence. On one occasion, she reveals to her son, Matt, that as a teenager, she went through a phase in which she smoked marijuana with friends. But after one of her friends is killed in a car accident due to smoking, she decides never to smoke again.

Dr. Matt Camden, played by Barry Watson is the eldest son and child of the Camden family. When the show was introduced, Matt was the oldest of five and a junior in high school, but later became the eldest of seven when the Camden twins, Sam and David, were born. Matt was seen as the family flirt, having numerous serious and casual relationships. These have included Heather, a deaf woman he dated from time to time, and Shana. He bounced from job to job, including being a delivery man for the Dairy Shack, and a tutor.

Pulling his grades up, he graduated at the top of his class, and was accepted for a White House internship in Washington, D.C., with First Lady Hillary Clinton. He went to college in town and, for a while, roomed with friend John Hamilton, a fellow reverend's son, his father is a long time friend of the Camden family. His uncle, Hank Hastings, helped get him a job in the cafeteria at the hospital and, during his work there, he decided to become a doctor. He later ended up working at a women's clinic where, after helping save the life of a woman with an ectopic pregnancy, he began working with Hank.

He met Sarah Glass, a fellow medical student. They went out and married on their first date, Ruthie finding out when she called them at their honeymoon suite. Their marriage was kept secret and they had a large family wedding presided over by Matt's father, and Sarah's father, a Rabbi. The wedding almost didn't take place as their fathers feuded over Matt who was planning on converting to Judaism. The couple moved to New York to attend med school and, while there have been problems, they have remained happy and together. At the end of Season ten they graduated from medical school and it was announced that Sarah was pregnant with twin boys. Sarah later gave birth to the twin boys the following summer.

Played by actress Jessica Biel, Mary Camden-Rivera (née Camden) is the eldest daughter of Eric and Annie. By the time she was 14, Mary was an aspiring athlete with an immense love for basketball. As the months progressed, she seemed to rise in both ability and confidence (so much so that she wanted to play in the WNBA someday) until an accident that took place before the end of her freshman year in which she was hit by a car, critically injuring her knee. She spent months of recuperation afterwards and seemed to be on the right track for the most part. She had a series of different boyfriends and began dating Wilson West, a man with a child from a previous relationship, who would become a more serious person in her life. By Season 4, problems in different subjects like math caused the basketball coach to impose a lockout on her and her teammates. After a secret meeting, the team decided to enact their frustrations by vandalizing the school gym, something that got all of them caught and arrested, Mary included. Through a special program for first offenders, Mary was able to evade serious punishment by doing community service, which was where she met Robbie Palmer, the second serious boyfriend she would have after breaking up with Wilson in season two.

Mary fell into further trouble. She could not hold down a job, being fired from everywhere from the pool hall to a book store. Her parents learned that she had been caught drinking while babysitting her cousin Erica; being pulled over by the cops; her loss of another job; and her debt. In the end Eric and Annie decided it was best she go to New York because they couldn't give her the attention she needed. She lived with her grandparents, the Colonel and Grandma Ruth, worked at a homeless shelter in the fall, and started college in the winter. She left home angry at her entire family, whom she saw as betraying her and refusing to speak to her father. In time, she calmed down and returned home to her father's birthday party.

She became involved again with Wilson who was going to school in New York but decided to train as a firefighter. She started training as a firefighter with Ben Kinkirk and she kissed him, which Wilson walked in on and they broke up. She returned home to California for a time, but on a trip to New York with Lucy she revealed she was moving back, and training to be a flight attendant. She began dating Ben again though this did not last. She moved to Florida for a time, where she dated a much older pilot but she eventually was introduced to Carlos Rivera. Carlos and Mary were married shortly after Lucy wed and revealed her pregnancy and the marriage to her family at the same time. Her parents visited at the birth of her son, Charles Miguel (Charlie), named in honor of her and Carlos' late grandfathers. They eventually divorced and Carlos took Charlie back to Puerto Rico when Mary gave her parental rights up. It was announced by Carlos when he attended Simon's wedding that the two were back together and that Mary was expecting twin girls. Though Mary was not at Simon's wedding she was able to still see her family the next day as she finally graduated from college the same day as Matt and Sarah. During the following summer, Mary gave birth to twin daughters.

Reverend Lucy Camden-Kinkirk (née Camden) portrayed by Beverley Mitchell, is the third Camden child, second daughter and was the middle child before Sam and David Camden were born. Lucy is known for the many boyfriends she had in the earlier seasons, as well as being overly dramatic. Her first boyfriend was Jimmy Moon. She has one "normal" relationship with him but they broke up. Later Jimmy was shown when he had some problems with drugs and finally the last time Jimmy was shown was when Lucy had case as juror in the 7th season but nobody told what it was about. She has lots of friends: Nicole the girl who cut herself, Ashley the hocer etc. She once was engaged to Jeremy but eventually they broke it off. She had a very good relationship with her friend Mike, who was placed in a mental hospital and was otherwise ostracized. Although Mike liked Lucy, it never quite worked out, and later on he fell in love with Elena.

Lucy followed in her father's footsteps and became a minister because of her strong religious devotion. She eventually married Kevin Kinkirk and had a daughter named, Savannah with him, however they did not move out of the apartment above the garage in the Camdens' house until well after Savannah was a year old. She also was pregnant with twin boys at one point, which she later lost in a miscarriage that deeply upset her emotional state, though she eventually recovered. She was a working mother (working as an Associate Pastor), while her husband Kevin was a stay-at-home dad. However, the stay-at-home dad gig was subject to change when Kevin was offered a job back as a police sheriff in Inked. Later on, Lucy helped Sandy with her pregnancy and they soon became best friends. In the 11th season, Lucy continued on with her life as a minister, friend, mother, and wife. She was offered another position in a different town as a minister. In the series finale, she announced that she was pregnant again.

Throughout her teen years Lucy was extremely jealous of her older sister, Mary, because of her popularity, especially with the opposite sex. Most of Lucy's constant fights with Mary had to do with boyfriends, or relationship issues. In 2002, Mary and Lucy argued with each other after Mary came home from spending a couple of years in Buffalo, especially when Robbie, whom both sisters became romantically involved with on separate occasions, started dating a new girl named Joy.

Simon Camden portrayed by David Gallagher is the fourth child and second son. In the early part of his childhood, he was known to his siblings as "The Bank of Simon" because he always seemed to have money. He used to also be very fascinated with The Tick. He always wanted to make magic until he got older. Simon was the one who wanted to get a dog, during the pilot episode. Although his parents did not think he was mature enough for the responsibility of a dog, his mother, Annie went to the pound, "just to look" and fell in love with a dog, that was imminently scheduled to be euthanized. So she ended up bringing the dog home, where she was adopted by the Camdens, and named "Happy". However, in a later two-part episode, during the second season, the child of Happy's previous owners saw her dog, "Whitey" (who was now "Happy") on TV and wanted her back. So her father came to the Camdens threatening legal action if "Happy"/"Whitey" was not returned, which made Simon & Ruthie try to dye Happy's fur with food coloring in an attempt to make her look like a different dog. At the end of that two-part season finale episode, after Happy ran away from her previous owners and went back to the Camdens, her previous owners agreed to let them keep her. They realized that after living with the Camdens for 2 years, "Happy" considered it her home and family, that she belonged there and would be unhappy anywhere else.

It was a rough transition for the sensitive Simon into high school, though his popular older sister Lucy helped him meet new people. At the beginning of the summer before his senior year, Simon accidentally "killed" Paul Smith, a young boy, in a car accident. The death was ruled accidental and Simon was not brought up on criminal charges, but he couldn't escape the pain and blame he inflicted on himself for Paul's death. Fearing that Paul's brother would retaliate, Simon graduated from school early and started college.

While in college, as a way to cope with his guilt, Simon broke the family's belief of not having sex before marriage, and had sex with random women.

Simon had three serious girlfriends over the course of the show, Deena, Cecilia, and Rose.

After a scare involving his girlfriend Georgia being pregnant (it was later revealed that she only made the claim so Simon would stay with her.) he met Rose. Rose loved Simon very much, though Simon was unsure whether or not he loved her the same. They got engaged and planned a wedding. After a long engagement, they decided to not get married because neither was ready for marriage yet and Rose still had feelings for an ex-boyfriend. In the series finale Ruthie mentions to Rev. Camden that Simon has something important to tell them.

Ruthie Camden portrayed by Mackenzie Rosman, is the youngest daughter. She is named after her Grandma Ruth. During her youth she was portrayed as the family sneak. Ruthie ages quickly over 7th Heaven's run, so that she starts elementary school, presumably at the age of five or six, near the end of the first season. She once was attending private school in season 5 and at the beginning of season 6. However she moved back to public school because she found out the private school wouldn't let her friend Yasmeen transfer there. But by the end of the tenth season she is as old as the actress that plays her and is currently 16 years old. However, Ruthie, in the early seasons, was portrayed as precocious for her age.

During her freshman year of high school she started developing feelings for the Camdens' house guest, Martin Brewer. She went so far as to tell him that she loved him, but quickly covered by saying as a brother.

During her sophomore year of high school, she started dating older boys, hoping that it would eventually lead her to a relationship with Martin. She also started wearing overdone makeup and became rather self-centered and superficial. She also appeared to have dropped any female friends she ever had and hung around just boys for much of her teen years.

However, Martin went against his beliefs during the previous summer and slept with a girl named Sandy at Simon's college. Ruthie was crushed when she learned that Martin was expecting a child with Sandy, the girl whom he met and slept with only once. She tried to hang onto Martin with the claim of being his friend, while he was being emotionally unresponsive to the baby's mother, and was present when Aaron was born along with Martin and her immediate family.

Upon Aaron's birth, Martin left Glen Oak for college and now lives near his son. This left Ruthie heartbroken, though by the end of season eleven, Martin finally admitted to Ruthie that he loved her but at this point Ruthie was involved with T-Bone. In the final season it was revealed that she could graduate high school a year early.

Samuel and David Camden (born February 14, 1999) are fraternal twin boys on the television series and the youngest Camden kids on 7th Heaven. They were originally played by all four Brino quadruplets, but once the quads started aging and showing differences between them, Sam and David have been played by Lorenzo and Nikolas (since Season six), respectively. Born during the 14th episode the Season three episode "In Praise of Women" (the episode that holds The WB's most watched hour), they are now currently being home schooled by their parents. They always finish each other's sentences.

Happy the Dog in the pilot episode, "Anything You Want", Simon begged his parents for a dog, and also prayed to God about it. One day, he was up in his room and he heard a faint bark and looked out his bedroom window and a dog was sitting in the front yard. Happy's original owners tried to come and claim her, but after seeing how happy Simon and the rest of the family was with Happy, the original owners decided to let Happy stay there.

Dr. Sarah Glass, portrayed by Sarah Danielle Madison, is the only child of Richard and Rosina Glass and the wife of Matt Camden, oldest son of Eric and Annie. She first appears in the Season six episode I Really Do as one of Matt's co-workers in the free women's clinic where both Matt and Hank work. In that episode Matt is determined to find the woman he's going to marry as soon as possible. He has a date with some girl he does not know, but since he is called in to go to work instead at the last minute, he ends up talking to Sarah all night. The recurring character of Doc, played by Ron Zimmerman (who wrote four Season one episodes), persuades Matt to marry Sarah instead.

Matt asks her out for coffee and they grow quite close. Sarah is an only child with a Rabbi for a father - thus her Jewish faith is very important to her. Sarah reveals that she is independently wealthy, unlike Matt, along with many other "intimate" details. The next night, they go out for dinner after introducing the other to their parents. They marry that night, but when they try to tell Sarah's parents they end up only admitting they "got engaged". Ruthie is the only person to find out about the marriage (and keeps it a secret until the Season ten episode Secrets). The Camdens have dinner at the Glass house, in an attempt by Matt and Sarah to bring the families closer. After both fathers do all they can to stop it, Matt and Sarah marry for the second time.

Matt and Sarah attend medical school at Columbia University in New York City, although they return (sometimes together, sometime separately) to Glen Oak every so often. Their marriage has some shaky patches, and Matt getting re-acquainted with his ex-girlfriend Heather does not help matters. Sarah keeps her maiden name for the hospital, and at first Matt and Sarah do not reveal to the others at the hospital that they are married. It is revealed in the Season ten finale that Sarah is pregnant with twin boys. She and Matt graduate medical school on the same day the finale took place on. She later gives birth to the twins the following summer.

Rabbi Richard Glass (Richard Lewis) - Sarah's father. He did not approve of Matt at first because he was not Jewish.

Rosina Glass (Laraine Newman) - Sarah's mother. Unlike her husband Rosina liked Matt and helped Sarah plan her wedding to Matt.

Kevin has a daughter with Lucy named Savannah (named after Savannah, Georgia, where Lucy and Kevin's honeymoon took place). At the beginning of Season ten, Kevin gets shot at and decides to be a stay at home dad. He convinces Lucy to adopt a Great Dane named Sampson, but Lucy also makes the decision to adopt a tiny Yorkshire terrier named Delilah. It was revealed at the end of the 10th season that Kevin and Lucy were expecting twin boys, however Lucy had a miscarriage over the summer. In the Series Finale, Lucy told him that she was pregnant again.

John Hamilton (Chaz Lamar Shepherd) - the oldest of Morgan and Patricia Hamilton's children who first appeared in The Color of God. When his father's church was burned down, he stayed in Matt's room. At first, the two were not real fond of each other, but this later changed. He later appeared in America's Most Wanted where he eye-witnessed Mary steal a glass from a restaurant as part of a team ritual. He appeared in Happy's Valentine where he brought a date to the Camdens' while his parents and Eric and Annie were out of town. He joined the wild party that Mary and Keesha's friends were throwing. He later becomes Matt's roommate. Chaz Lamar Shepherd stars as John in the 1999-2000 season.

Shana Sullivan - (Maureen Flannigan) is one of Matt's major girlfriends, who eventually decides to go to NYU. The resulting long-distance relationship between Matt and Shana fails.

Peter Petrowski (Scotty Leavenworth) - a neighbor to the Camdens and Ruthie's first boyfriend. Peter is the son of Vick and Paris. He first stars in 2002 then returns in 2006.

Roxanne Richardson (Rachel Blanchard) - Kevin's partner, the object of much of Lucy's jealousy but later become close friends with Lucy and they set up girls nights out where Lucy tells Roxanne what's going on in her life with her husband. She was an old crush of Robbie, and Chandler's girlfriend. Later on, Roxanne reveals that she will be going to Iraq.

Cecilia Smith (Ashlee Simpson) - Simon's girlfriend who later dates Martin. She later dumps Martin because he loved her but she was not sure she felt just as strongly. Another reason which is not very clearly shown might be that she thought Simon was returning-whereas he only came for vacations-and they might get back together (because it would no longer be a long-distance relationship). When Simon came home at the end of Season 8, it was vaguely revealed that their relationship did not work out because over the summer Cecilia went away to college, and it was only when Simon began dating and having sex with Georgia in Season 9 that it was revealed that they had broken up. However, fans have believed that Simon's wife is actually Cecilia.

Martin Brewer portrayed by Tyler Hoechlin, is the only son of the Marine, Beau Brewer. His mother died when he was young and, until he was 16, he lived with his Aunt Betsy. During his sophomore year in high school the Brewers moved to Glen Oak.

Martin literally walked into the Camdens' life by chance and joined the already-growing overglut of teen boys there. He followed Ruthie and her then boyfriend Peter to the Camden house and everyone assumed that he was a friend of Simon's, except Simon who thought he was there to see his dad. While Martin's aunt, an aspiring fashion designer, wanted the two of them to move to New York, Eric managed to convince her to let Martin stay with them so as not to uproot him again.

Martin's favorite sport is baseball and has been scouted by both colleges and professional baseball teams. One team even offered him a contract during his sophomore year in high school (which he eventually turned down to complete his education). Martin lived with the Camdens for two years before his father's tour in Iraq finally ended and he returned home.

He also had fixed, rigid beliefs about sexuality and was staunchly conservative, which pleased most of the Camdens, except Simon. When Martin snooped into Simon's private affairs, Martin carped at Simon about the "evils" of non-marital sex when he found out that Simon was sexually active.

Prior to his senior year in high school, while visiting Simon Camden, Martin met and, not practicing what he preached about non-marital sex, slept with a girl named Sandy Jameson. The event resulted in Sandy getting pregnant.

Martin graduated a year early and with the assistance of Eric and his high school baseball coach started college. He now lives near Sandy and his son. While Martin was not in the Season 10 finale, Sandy makes an appearance after the failed wedding of Simon and Rose. The episode ends with Sandy telling Simon she needs to speak with him. Much speculation surrounded this, that it was in fact Simon's baby. Ruthie falls in love with Martin in the meantime, when Martin loves Sandy. Finally, near the end of the 11th season, Martin declares his love for Ruthie, but Ruthie chooses to stay with T-Bone.

Meredith Davis (Megan Henning) - Martin's ex-girlfriend, who broke up with him after he told her about Sandy and the baby. Meredith and her siblings were taken in by Cecilia's parents.

Sandy Jameson (Haylie Duff) - Sandy was introduced in the Season ten premiere of 7th Heaven as Simon's fiancée Rose's best friend, who Martin had lost his virginity to the previous summer and in the season opener Sandy reveals she might be pregnant. She turns out to be pregnant, and gives birth to a baby boy she named Aaron (after Martin's grandfather and also quite possibly producer Aaron Spelling). In the Season ten finale, she had to speak with Simon, possibly about the baby's paternity.

By 2006, Simon and Rose changed plans to marry in May, something they both wanted to be ready for but still held insecurities and doubts. Annie, however, had decided that they could not marry, and when an ex-boyfriend of Rose's surfaced in March, she saw an opportunity. Though most had come to accept Simon dating Rose, no one knew her at all, and it was this boyfriend who convinced Rose that she was not being a good person. In the April 2006 episode Invitation to Disaster, she had a sit-down confession with Annie, explaining that she had been unaware of how she was acting and that her relationship with her parents and never really being disciplined or close to them at all was part of the reason. This provoked Annie to see her in a different light, and while she and Annie took on a mother/daughter relationship, no one else was crazy about them marrying. It was her ex-boyfriend Umberto who made her realize she was not ready to marry and that he still had feelings for her. So although they had gotten to the wedding day, they ended up parting ways amicably. It is unknown whether they still keep in touch.

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7th Heaven (novel)

7th Heaven is the seventh book in the Women's Murder Club series featuring Lindsay Boxer by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. It was released first in the UK on the 14 January 2008 and then by Little Brown in the US on February 5, 2008.

The Women's Murder Club pursues two cases in an electrifying new thriller–chasing a deranged killer and searching for a murderer with a taste for fire.

A Very Public Disappearance....

The teenage son of California's ex-governor, Michael Campion has mysteriously vanished. Known as the "Boy with a Broken Heart" because of his incurable heart defect, Michael grew up under the eye of an adoring public. The pressure on Detective Lindsay Boxer to find Michael is overwhelming. When she finally does get a lead, it's devastating...

A Deadly Rash of Arsons...

While working on the Campion case, Lindsay and her partner, Rich Conklin, also investigate terrifying fires that are destroying some of the most beautiful homes in San Francisco–and killing their owners in the flames. But when Lindsay invites her friends in the Women's Murder Club to help her uncover the arsonist, the blazes suddenly start to rage much too close to home.

A chance at 7th Heaven...

Now as these two intense, demanding cases bring Lindsay and Rich closer together than ever, Lindsay will find herself on the brink of an emotional meltdown.

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