Let me tell you the story of two TV shows, 7th Heaven and Everwood. Both were conceived and promoted as "family dramas," shows that tweens and teens could watch with their parents while learning important life lessons. 7th Heaven was the lead-in to Everwood on The WB Television Network, one of the smaller broadcast networks, which had found a niche in "teen" dramas. Monday was their night for "family" shows. When you hear their premises, both sound terrible: 7th Heaven was about a the large family of the pastor of a Christian church, the denomination of which is never mentioned. They all learn important life lessons and...that's about it. Everwood was about a brilliant, rich, and famous neurosurgeon who freaks out and moves with his kids to a small Colorado town to run a free clinic when he breaks down after his wife's death. Everyone involved learns important life lessons. On paper, they actually sound pretty similar. In practice, 7th Heaven was one of the worst shows in the history of television while Everwood was actually pretty great and is incredibly underrated. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV9iDKes4c0 In the first episode of 7th Heaven, the family held a celebratory party for one of the daughters getting her first period while the older daughter tried to learn how to kiss by asking her older brother to make out with her. Later on, some people would say the show was not so bad at the beginning, but clearly, they were wrong. The show featured a number of talented actors who clearly loathed the show and were slumming it by reciting the show's notoriously terrible dialogue. Jessica Biel even posed topless for men's magazine Gear when she was 17 years old in a desperate attempt to get out of her contract. Everwood was, while occasionally sappy, a well-crafted drama with a number of great performances and refused to shy away from controversial issues. It had the heart that its lead-in was missing. All of the key younger actors have become pretty successful, currently as regulars on successful shows, with one, Emily Van Camp, being the clear lead on her show, ABC's Revenge. It had a passionate fanbase and was probably the best show on the WB at the ends of its life. See, The WB was merging with its key rival, UPN, to form The CW for the 2006-2007 television season. The bulk of the programming was going to come from The WB, but Veronica Mars, America's Next Top Model, and WWE SmackDown were being retained from UPN. This meant that a few WB shows would have to go. 7th Heaven was set to end in Spring 2006, so one of the spots was already freed up, presumably making room for Everwood, which was on the bubble. Then things got weird. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRSHZH3fnDc The 7th Heaven finale did one of the best ratings in WB history. This was no surprise: It was the series finale of the network's longest-running show. What was strange was that creator Brenda Hampton paid to keep the show's sets up after production had been completed. Remember: The show was not cancelled. It had been planned to end at this point. Nobody knows for sure if she was working on some sort of crazy evil genius plot or what, but if she was, it succeeded: Emboldened by the rating for the finale, The CW renewed the show for one more season. As a result, Everwood was cancelled. Having shot two endings since they were on the bubble, they used the more definitive one, and that was it for the show after four seasons in spite of a famously loud fan outcry. The actual last season of 7th Heaven saw the budget slashed and the addition of a bunch of new characters. The show was worse than ever, and then it was gone. Forever. But why did it have to take down Everwood with it?
Formerly the site manager of Cageside Seats and the WWE Team Leader at Bleacher Report, David Bixenspan has been writing professionally about WWE, UFC, and other pop culture since 2009. He's currently WhatCulture's U.S. Editor and also serves as the lead writer of Figure Four Weekly and a monthly contributor to Fighting Spirit Magazine.
Let me tell you the story of two TV shows, 7th Heaven and Everwood. Both were conceived and promoted as "family dramas," shows that tweens and teens could watch with their parents while learning important life lessons. 7th Heaven was the lead-in to Everwood on The WB Television Network, one of the smaller broadcast networks, which had found a niche in "teen" dramas. Monday was their night for "family" shows. When you hear their premises, both sound terrible: 7th Heaven was about a the large family of the pastor of a Christian church, the denomination of which is never mentioned. They all learn important life lessons and...that's about it. Everwood was about a brilliant, rich, and famous neurosurgeon who freaks out and moves with his kids to a small Colorado town to run a free clinic when he breaks down after his wife's death. Everyone involved learns important life lessons. On paper, they actually sound pretty similar. In practice, 7th Heaven was one of the worst shows in the history of television while Everwood was actually pretty great and is incredibly underrated. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV9iDKes4c0 In the first episode of 7th Heaven, the family held a celebratory party for one of the daughters getting her first period while the older daughter tried to learn how to kiss by asking her older brother to make out with her. Later on, some people would say the show was not so bad at the beginning, but clearly, they were wrong. The show featured a number of talented actors who clearly loathed the show and were slumming it by reciting the show's notoriously terrible dialogue. Jessica Biel even posed topless for men's magazine Gear when she was 17 years old in a desperate attempt to get out of her contract. Everwood was, while occasionally sappy, a well-crafted drama with a number of great performances and refused to shy away from controversial issues. It had the heart that its lead-in was missing. All of the key younger actors have become pretty successful, currently as regulars on successful shows, with one, Emily Van Camp, being the clear lead on her show, ABC's Revenge. It had a passionate fanbase and was probably the best show on the WB at the ends of its life. See, The WB was merging with its key rival, UPN, to form The CW for the 2006-2007 television season. The bulk of the programming was going to come from The WB, but Veronica Mars, America's Next Top Model, and WWE SmackDown were being retained from UPN. This meant that a few WB shows would have to go. 7th Heaven was set to end in Spring 2006, so one of the spots was already freed up, presumably making room for Everwood, which was on the bubble. Then things got weird. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRSHZH3fnDc The 7th Heaven finale did one of the best ratings in WB history. This was no surprise: It was the series finale of the network's longest-running show. What was strange was that creator Brenda Hampton paid to keep the show's sets up after production had been completed. Remember: The show was not cancelled. It had been planned to end at this point. Nobody knows for sure if she was working on some sort of crazy evil genius plot or what, but if she was, it succeeded: Emboldened by the rating for the finale, The CW renewed the show for one more season. As a result, Everwood was cancelled. Having shot two endings since they were on the bubble, they used the more definitive one, and that was it for the show after four seasons in spite of a famously loud fan outcry. The actual last season of 7th Heaven saw the budget slashed and the addition of a bunch of new characters. The show was worse than ever, and then it was gone. Forever. But why did it have to take down Everwood with it?