7th Heaven: Season 1

When it comes to TV, I am a sitcom junkie. I want to be entertained. Make me laugh and I am happy. I have collected the complete series of several sitcoms and am working on others as the seasons become available.But sometimes I feel the need to get more serious and my 2 favorite dramtic TV shows of all time were "Touched By an Angel" and "Little House on the Prairie." I have collected the entire series of Little House and am impatiently waiting for the remaining 5 seasons of TBAA. In the mean time I felt the need to find something else like them.So I did some searching and stumbled on "7th Heaven." It sounded good. A minister and a stay-at-home mom with five children ranging in age from 5 to 16. The Amazon reviewers promised laughter and tears. But I was skeptical and finally decided to buy the first season as a test. I wasn't disappointed. Over time I bought seasons 2 through 8 and am now impatiently waiting for seasons 9 to 11.The show delivered exactly what I wanted and what the reviewers promised. One minute I was laughing and the next I was fighting back tears. Then suddenly out of blue, I wanted to stand up and cheer. The acting is not the greatest in some scenes, but there are some well acted scenes too.It tackles some very tough issues and doesn't always try to come to some absolute solution. One example would be racism. There are episodes that are all about it and tackle it head on. But many more of the episodes show white and black people interacting with absolutely no regard to (or mention of) their differences. Isn't that what we really want?It also has episodes where the minister father has to make peace with his God. He has to go through heart surgery and becomes angry that his God did this to him. He considers leaving the ministry. There are a lot of tough issues (like sex) that are not for very young children. But children in or near their teens can or maybe should watch some of them with parental guidance. I'm not going to set an age. You know your children better than I do.It bothers me that Jessica Biel could not come to terms with the producers. Jessica, in my opinion is not that great an actress (at least in this case), and there are actresses that are much better looking. But the family jigsaw puzzle seemed to missing a piece without Mary. I thought Mary (not Jessica) was a very mixed up girl, and would like to have seen her wake up and smell the coffee. The producers just had her basically run away from home and we hear very little about her after that. Well, I've seen it before where an actor's ego (or greed?) takes over and they walk out on the very role that made them so popular in first place.Is it real life? Of course not. Its TV. But it is good TV. If you want reality, turn the TV off. There is nothing on TV that is reality. So called "reality" shows are just real people puttting on a show for the camera. The closest TV ever came to having a real "reality" show was Candid Camera where people did NOT know they were being filmed. But even that was just a snapshot of the movie we call life.All things considered, I think if you liked TBAA and Little House, and want to be entertained, you'll like 7th Heaven.

The 1990s were a period of change in TV. Especially in cable channels popping up all over the place: Cartoon Network, History Channel, TCM, The Family Channel had growing pains and kept getting tossed around in its ownership, the Disney Channel went from pay to a regular tier - in the late 90s, Nick at Nite became more stabilized, and there was an animation renaissance like no other (cartoons before were pretty ... uh, basic). With all the family/animated/kids programming taking shape, there were several kid's shows, following the popularity of such 80s programs as "Full House" and "Growing Pains". "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and "Family Matters" led the pack, followed later by "Boy Meets World" and a Brady Bunch hybrid, "Step by Step". However, most of these were geared towards the younger set, similar to a "Saved by the Bell" following. The real "family" programs were something that only kind of returned with "The Cosby Show", in the 80s. It was far and few between, though, where the adults were commonly a strong part of the story and moral issues took front and center. Enter The WB channel in the mid 90s. "7th Heaven", although on the surface appearing just another silly, soapy, extreme Aaron Spelling show, actually had a mission to bring back this type of program. When I first breezed past it in its debut, I saw nothing unique to any other Spelling show. The characters and acting seemed pretty network standard. The father's a minister, the kids are good - but being kids, can cause some "mischief". It seemed pretty white bread to me, as I'd expected. Okay, so fast forward a couple decades down the road. My wife, it turns out, was a big fan of the show (GREAT!) However, it's nowhere to be found on streaming (at that time), so I pickup the first season for her on DVD. We watch it together. I was a bit thrown, from the start, that the characters actually had a bit of depth, that there were commonly three or four subplots woven into the "hour" and fairly seamlessly (!), and that once we'd viewed a number of episodes, I actually started caring about the family. The Camden parents are good with their give and take relationship, where she's supposedly the liberal one, although some issues are not so black and white with this (a GOOD thing). Matt and Mary, the oldest kids, are clumsily making it into adulthood, Lucy is trying to survive being a teen, Simon (the BEST) is quite the negotiator, and Ruthie and Happy (the dog) are there for lighter moments (insert those "Full House" scenes here). I was incredibly surprised how much depth was brought to the characters, within the primary AND extended families (including some great moments with Peter Graves and Barbara Rush). Okay, so I was wrong. It's a good show. Not a favorite, by far, but a good family program. I can honestly say that I actually like a Spelling show (horrors!) However, in season three, that shark starts getting jumped, with that problematic addition of more kids. Then, the family dichotomy starts changing in six and seven. Either way, most of these shows are there strongest the first five seasons. We'll see if things are getting a bit long in the tooth by four.

I only watched it up to season 6. I love this show and watch it every night! It's still fresh even after 25 years, because it is filled with LOVE and FORGIVENESS. I only wish that Annie and Eric would've tortured their children less! I think that most of the family issues was because of lack of communication between kids and parents, the kids were too stressed to talk to their parents and deal with the consequences, and that's why that they hid their problems from their parents very frequently. Mary and Simon were very smart, but they got punished a lot for reasonable/unreasonable reasons and that is why they had tougher teenage years than other Camdens. Matt was the best, but he also got punished for many unreasonable reasons and that is why he used to please everyone and he got abused by his girlfriends and eventually he felt so lonely that he decided to marry a stranger after only one date! Annie and Eric ruined the future of their children by disciplining them unreasonably.

Season one is my best favorite one. Episode #21 and #22 are best stories I watch, and I'll watch again. I like the drama episode: "Last Call for Aunt Julie".

Mein Gott, endlich schafft man es diese absolut grandiose Serie "7th Heaven" aka "Eine himmlische Familie" auf deutsch auf DVD zu veröffentlichen, die es auf immerhin rekordverdächtige 11 Jahre (sprich: 11 Staffeln) gebracht hat.Story: In einr Kleinstadt lebt das Pfarrer-Ehepaar mit ihren Kindern: Matt, Mary, Simon und Lucy... (später gibts dann mehr) in der es um das Erwachsen werden geht, Probleme und Sorgen aufgreift... verpackt mit humorvollen Dialogen / Situationen (der Religions-Clash als Matt später eine Jüdin heiratet), dann aber auch mal wieder dramtisch und zu tiefst traurig.Die Serie hat wirklich alles: grandiose Cast (Catherine Hicks, Stephen Collins, Jessica Biel, Tyler Hoechlin, Geoff und George Stults), produziert von Mega-Produzent Aaron Spelling ("Der Denver Clan", "Melrose Place") sehr konservativ, spiessbürgerlich gehalten (welche trotzdem oder genau deshalb humorvolle Situationen entstehen) , die auch manchmal zum Nachdenken anregen (wie das Verleugnen des Holocaust, oder der Anschlag aufs World Trade Center, der Einsatz in Afganistan, Alkoholsucht etc.).Zur Hauptcast gesellen sich dann wunderbare Nebenfiguren wie Mrs Bink (wunderbar: Eileen Brennan, die Horrorfans unter anderem als The Cat Lady in "Jeepers Creepers" kennen sollten), Peter Graves ("Kobra: übernehmen Sie!"), Barbara Rush, Beverly Garland,Wer nach einer tollen Show sucht, ohne Gewalt oder zu viel Sex, mit tollen Geschichten (meist, mit Ausnahme natürlich einiger wenigen Episoden), ist hier sehr gut aufgehoben.Die Serie kann als Lehrstückt zur Erwachsenen werden oder Menschlichkeit gesehen werden.FAZIT: unbedingt kaufen, kaufen, kaufen!!!UPDATE: die Bildqualität ist in so etwa wie ich erwartet hatte, durchgehend gut (aber nicht zu vergleichen mit neuen Produktionen), leichte Pixel/Körnigkeit ist hier und da auszumachen aber meines erachtens akzeptabel. Bildformat der DVD ist natürlich 4:3 (links/rechts mit schwarzen Balken auf einem 16:9 Bildschirm) - so wie es sein muss und auch gedreht wurde!!!!Sound: Deutsch und Englisch jeweils in. DD 2.0 - leider keine Untertitel vorhandenBonus: gibt es keinsWendecover: JA

Nun erscheint " Eine himmlische Familie " endtlich auf Dvd! Lange hat es gedauert doch nun hat sies endtlich geschafft! Aber wahr doch ne lange Zeit wenn man bedenkt wie lange es jetzt schon Dvds giebt!Habe die Serie damals als Jugendtlicher gesehen. Ist noch auf ORF 1 und VOX gelaufen. Habe sie bis zur 6. Staffel sowas sehen können. Dann nicht mehr wegen eines Umzuges!Und habe seit Jahren jetzt nichts mehr gehört oder gesehen von ihr! Ist toll das sie endtlich auf Dvd erscheint!Dvds sind gut und die Serie ist sowieso Klasse!!!! Sicher mit heutigen HD Fernsehern und so merkt man schon den Unterschied das es ne alte Serie ist, aber hey sie ist auch aus den 90 gern also? Sein wir doch froh das sies nun doch geschafft hat! Für Fans ist sie sowieso genial und für welche die es werden wollen ihr werdet es nicht bereuen!Aber bei der 1.Stafffel anfangen sonst bekommt verliert ihr den Faden in den kommenden. Insgesamt giebt es ja 11. Staffeln. 2 Sind nun herausen. Hoffe die restlichen 9 schaffen es nun auch bald auf Dvd. Und es dauert nicht so lange wie zwischen Staffel 1 und 2 (8 Monate dazwischen) Lange Zeit!!!

I discovered the tv series when I was around 20, so I surely don't belong to the main target audience. Anyway I really fell in love with the series and with the Camden Family because unlike most other tv series, it has something to tell, and it tells it in a very entertaining way.Surely the stories are usually way over the top (which is probably why some people dislike the series so much), but nevertheless, if you extract the problems and questions the series deals with, you'll find out that they are present in the everyday life. And I'm not only talking about the kid's girl and boy trouble, there are also much deeper themes. The death of a family member, a sister who drinks, racism, prejudice, responsibility... and just like in real life, the Camden Family have to face the fact that there's not always a happy ending, and not every question has an anser.It's definitly a series for the whole family and one that I surely will watch with my future children.

gibt es die Serie nun auf DVD, wenn auch leider nur Portionsweise. Zum Inhalt der Serie muss ich glaube ich nicht mehr groß Info geben.Die Bildqualität ist gut. Extras sind nicht dabei, was ich persönlich nicht als Kritikpunkt betrachte. Allerdings wäre eine Episodenliste nicht schlecht gewesen damit man sieht was sich auf den einzelnen DVD's der Staffel befindet. Wenn man eine spezielle Folge sucht, hat man Pech gehabt. Ich habe mir aus dem Internet die Episodenliste ausgedruckt und dazugelegt.Wenn man nach der Verpackung geht wäre ein Stern gerade noch ok. Ziemlich billige Verarbeitung. Bei meiner Hülle war direkt das Mittelteil herausgebrochen und die DVD's sind in der Hülle herumgepurzelt. Eine hat sich einige Kratzer eingefangen, zum Glück läuft sie noch.Bei der 2.Staffel hat zwar das Mittelteil gehalten aber es ist trotzdem eine wackelige Angelegenheit. Auch hier sind die DVD-Scheiben aus der Halterung herausgesprungen und in der Hülle herumgepurzelt. Qualitätstechnisch kann hier noch einiges verbessert werden.Persönliches FazitInhalt: 5 SterneVerpackung: 1 SternWürde ich weitere Staffeln kaufen? Aber ja doch

... gibt es wenigstens die 1. Staffel in deutscher Fassung! Es bleibt zu hoffen, dass die anderen Staffeln ebenfalls diesen Weg gehen! Wenn es eine Serie gibt, die Werte für ein gutes und friedvolles Miteinander vermittelt, dann diese! Und dabei wird einem keinesfalls eine heile Welt vorgegaukelt. Nein, vielmehr erhält man die volle Packung typischer und nicht-typischer Alltagsprobleme! Einzigartig an dieser Serie ist schlicht, dass gezeigt wird, wie man mit diesen Problemen umgehen kann - und zwar in einer Weise, die nicht beschönigt und dennoch eine Lösung aufzeigt, die meist für alle Beteiligten gut ist. Es wäre durchaus wünschenswert, wenn es mehr derartige Serien geben würde und zwar auch im aktuellen Programm. Schließlich "lernt" der junge Mensch von heute ja leider überwiegend über das Medium Fernsehen.Ich kann die Serie jedem ans Herz legen - wirklich jedem.