Camden family fanatics will be pleased with the release of 7th Heaven: The Ninth Season on DVD. The following for the show was huge during its 11-season run on the WB network. It was, in fact, the most successful show the network ever aired. But the inspiration was clearly running low by the ninth season, making this one strictly for the hardest of hardcore fans. Though the show had grown stale, those who consider it a guilty pleasure will still find morsels of cheesiness to feast upon.
Season nine finds Lucy Camden (Beverly Mitchell) pregnant by her husband, Kevin Kinkirk (George Stults). Kevin has the patience of a saint as he deals with Lucy's demands. All the pregnancy cliches are touched upon: odd food cravings, sudden mood swings, and a general bitchiness that makes Lucy utterly intolerable. Kevin is a police officer, and likely the laughing stock of his precinct due to how whipped he is by his wife. What qualities he ever found in the supremely self-centered Lucy will remain one of the show's great unsolved mysteries. Beverly Mitchell's characterization had become so reflexive by this point in the show, a seasoned viewer will easily predict her every reaction.
A reasonable amount of interest builds as some minor complications crop up late in Lucy's pregnancy. Her older brother Matt (Barry Watson) is on hand for select episodes, offering guidance and a helping hand. Their parents, Eric (Stephen Collins) and Annie (Catherine Hicks), continue in their struggle to adjust to the fact that most of their children have reached adulthood. In the previous season, Simon (David Gallagher) accidentally killed a pedestrian while driving. The psychological scars remain as Simon struggles with a variety of issues. Ruthie (Mackenzie Rosman) has started high school and is yearning to begin dating, much to her parents' horror. With Jessica Biel having moved on to greener pastures following her controversial departure several seasons earlier, Mary is the only Camden offspring missing in action completely.
That leaves, of course, the youngest of the Camden brood — twin brothers Sam and David. Real-life twins Nicolas and Lorenzo Brino portray the tow-headed tykes and I will not blame them for their disastrous performances. 7th Heaven, at its best (i.e. the first three or four seasons), was a show that involved all members of the family and allowed them to have realistic characters. These kids grew and changed in those early years, which I believe was the key element to the show's popularity. Once the children became teenagers and young adults, the producers obviously wanted to introduce some new young characters in an effort to retain the widest demographic possible. Sam and David are never allowed to have their own personalities. They are forced to walk around like little robots, finishing each other's sentences and seemingly sharing every thought and opinion. The other family members seem to regard them with a curious detachment.
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