Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this generally wholesome family drama always offers great opportunities for families to discuss issues that affect both parents and kids, including hot-button topics like premarital sex and pregnancy. Therefore, parents might want to think twice before allowing younger kids to view the program.
Families can talk about the issues posed by each episode. Ask teens what they perceive the consequences of each character's actions to be. What would they do in similar circumstances? Do they agree with the values the show espouses? Is it more or less likely that a minister's children would get into tricky situations as teenagers?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Betsy Wallace and Marjorie Kase
7TH HEAVEN charts the highs and lows of the large Camden clan, and is one of very few TV dramas designed specifically for the whole family -- and its longevity offers proof that family programming can be highly successful.
Although at times the unbelievably articulate Camdens-- Dad and mom, Reverend Eric Camden (Stephen Collins) and Annie (Catherine Hicks) and their kids Matt (Barry Watson), Simon (David Gallagher), Mary (Jessica Biel), Lucy (Beverley Mitchell), Ruthie (Mackenzie Rosman)and twins Sam and David (Lorenzo and Nikolas Brino), and their countless cousins, husbands and wives -- come across as overly skilled communicators, the show makes an effort to inject some reality into their interaction.
There are growing pains as the kids have become young adults through the course of the series. Some have married, had kids of their own, or left the nest all together. There have been bouts of rebellion, sibling rivalry, and the occasional stray friend that the Camden kids were prone to bringing home for advice from their Preacher dad.
The series insists on dealing with timely social issues (homelessness, hate crimes) as well as the difficult situations kids and teens encounter as they grow up (premarital sex, drinking). As a consequence, sometimes 7th Heaven can feel like a morality play, and the dialogue and acting can be stiff. But viewers see how the Camden family, together with friends and spouses, work through their problems -- even those that seem insurmountable -- and ultimately find solutions.
Families with teenagers who enjoy 7th Heaven may also like slightly older-skewing shows such as Everwood and Gilmore Girls.
Rate It!
| Content | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS | adults | kids | ||
Sexual ContentThe series does not advocate premarital sex, but characters grapple with the issue, a classmate became pregnant and need help. |
 |
 |
|
|
ViolenceCharacters have been beaten up at school (off-screen). |
|
|
|
|
Language |
|
|
|
|
Message |
|
 |
|
|
Social BehaviorSome racial diversity in the cast, but most of the main characters are white. Episodes have dealt directly and admirably with issues of tolerance. |
 |
 |
|
|
Commercialism |
 |
|
|
|
Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoEpisodes have included issues of underage drinking and drug use with the clear goal of illuminating the problem or exploring how to handle it. |
|
|
|
|
