Remember when we all worshiped at the altar of 7th Heaven?
Sure, things have taken a turn for the less-than-biblical since the Aaron Spelling-produced WB series about a Protestant minister and his crew's PG-rated family hijinks went off the air in 2007. In 2014, Stephen Collins shocked and disturbed all in the show's fold when he admitted to past inappropriate sexual conduct, sharing that he had exposed himself to several young girls.
But before the Camden family patriarch left us all feeling more than a bit of parental disappointment, upwards of 12 million fans loyally tuned in for 11 straight seasons to see what Matt, Simon, Mary, Lucy and Ruthie were getting up to and reveled in the sisterly bond that formed between Jessica Biel (frequent black sheep Mary) and Beverley Mitchell (sassy Lucy).
"We used to butt heads and she used to drive me fricking nuts and we used to literally want to battle," Mitchell recalled to Us Weekly in 2019 of their relationship. "There were times where I just remember going home, because we would carpool home, and we would just yell at each other all the time."
But much like real life siblings, as the teens grew up together, they began to really appreciate the closeness between them.
"I call her like my sister," continued Mitchell. "I don't have brothers and sisters, so she has always been that type of relationship for me because I'm an only child. I adopted her, whether she likes it or not. She doesn't have a choice."
And there's at least the smallest sliver of hope that the rest of the group could be reunited somewhere other than Biel's restaurant opening or for the occasional family dinner.
Asked if there was a chance the series could go the way of other beloved '90s classics like Boy Meets World and Full House, matriarch Catherine Hicks didn't exactly say no. Though they would need to explain away Rev. Eric's absence, she noted there are options. "We'd have to open with Stephen's coffin," she told TMZ. (Sadly, they would also need to acknowledge the March 2020 death of Lorenzo Brino, who, along with his fellow quadruplets, covered the roles of fraternal twins Sam and David.)
But with the castmates still keeping in touch two decades after their show ruled WB's ratings (somewhere we're imagining a group text blowing up for Mitchell's Jan. 22 birthday), "We'd all love to be together," Hicks said, throwing out a potential pitch: "Maybe 8th Heaven with a new boyfriend for Annie."
We don't hate it. But could she convince her entire crew? Let's check in with the rest of the Camdens.
Already an Emmy nominee (for stepping into Marilyn Monroe's heels for the 1980 TV movie Marilyn: The Untold Story) when she signed on to play Camden family matriarch Annie, the New York native continued to rack up roles in small screen films such as 2011's A Valentine's Day Date, 2012's A Christmas Wedding Date and 2015's A Christmas Reunion.
Though the mom to daughter Caitlin Yagher (with special effects make-up artist husband of more than 30 years, Kevin Yagher) took a brief hiatus from the Lifetime and Hallmark Channel circuit after 2016's Honeymoon From Hell, she was back in TV action last year, voicing a fairy in JJ Villard's Fairy Tales on Cartoon Network. And she could clearly be persuaded to return to Glenoak with a few necessary modifications. Raise your hand if you're ready to see Annie get her groove back!
Collins had a thriving career before donning Eric Camden's clerical collar thanks to parts in 1976's All the President's Men, 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture and 1996's The First Wives Clubs. And as the patriarch of 7th Heaven, he leaned hard into his family man image, even serving as a lay eucharistic minister at Beverly Hills' All Saints Church.
Post-show, he booked gigs on Private Practice, No Ordinary Family, Scandal and Devious Maids, but everything unraveled after he filed to divorce actress Faye Grant, his wife of nearly 30 years, in 2012. Two years later, in the midst of an increasingly nasty split, TMZ obtained a tape in which Collins purportedly spoke with a therapist about his inappropriate contact with three minors. (Despite acknowledging she made the recording, Grant denied having any involvement in leaking it.)
Though the dad to daughter Kate opened up to Katie Couric about the experiences involving a 10-year-old, a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old and apologized for "any pain I have caused these three women," he has not worked since 2014. He now lives in Iowa with his wife Jenny Nagel.
Arguably the most famous Camden alum, the series' wild child is also the least likely to return to the fold. "I think I definitely sort of butted up against those limitations and those boundaries for a multitude of reasons," she told the Awards Chatter podcast in 2018 of her experience. "Because, yeah you know, you can only do so much with a particular character specifically on a show like that. We really had to sort of stay in the boundaries of a somewhat religious family and teaching lessons, and when, you know you're 16, 14, 15, 16, you get to a point when you're like oh man, I just want to do something different. I just want to cut my hair, and I just want to dye it a different color and I can't do all these things because I have this contract."
Ultimately she did cut her hair, she recalled and "I got in a lot of trouble for that. I had to apologize to everybody, which is sort of the theme of my experience on 7th Heaven. I was always apologizing." And this was before the then-17-year-old decided to pose topless for men's magazine Gear in 2000.
Following her exit from the fictional town of Glenoak, Biel focused mainly on film roles, collecting parts in 2010's The A-Team, 2011's New Year's Eve, 2012's Total Recall and Hitchcock, 2016's A Kind of Murder before returning to the small screen as executive producer and star of Sinner in 2017.
In her personal life, she is wife to Justin Timberlake and mom to sons Silas and Phineas.
With years' worth of credits to her name when she nabbed the part of wild AF preacher's daughter Lucy at age 15, Mitchell is the first to call herself #blessed. "I have been acting since I was 4 and have loved each and every minute of it," she wrote on her lifestyle website Growing Up Hollywood.
She's very much still in the biz with a two-year stint on The Secret Life of the American Teenager, a handful of Lifetime films and even two seasons of Pop's Hollywood Darlings that saw her, Jodie Sweetin and Christine Lakin play exaggerated versions of themselves. "But most days," she detailed in her Instagram bio, she's "juggling #momlife." After a heartbreaking 2018 miscarriage of her twins, Mitchell and accountant husband Michael Cameron welcomed their third child, daughter Mayzel, in July 2020. They are also parents to Kenzie and Hutton.
The eldest child flew the Camden coop in 2002 after six seasons as a regular when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. He later went into remission and returned for guests spots as he shot movies like 2004's Love on the Side and 2005's Boogeyman until 2006 when he nabbed the lead role in the short-lived comedy What About Brian.
A small screen fixture, he's had substantial runs on Samantha Who?, Gossip Girl (as Serena Van der Woodsen's boyfriend), Hart of Dixie and Date My Dad, a 2017 comedy that saw the widower's trio of daughters try to fix him up. In real life, though, he's had no trouble in that department. In 2014, the twice-wed dad of Oliver and Felix married Natasha Gregson Wagner, mom to daughter Clover.
Steadily working since the age of 2, transitioning from print advertorials and television commercials to voicing Mikey in the final installment of Kirstie Alley and John Travolta's Look Who's Talking trilogy, the New York City native has collected some 50 credits across his 30-plus year career.
Since graduating from his part as middle child Simon and then, subsequently, the University of Southern California, where he majored in film and television studies, the five-time Young Artist Award nominee and Teen Choice Award winner has appeared on Numb3rs, The Vampire Diaries and pretty much every version of CSI. In addition to voicing Riku in the Kingdom Hearts video game series, he's worked on crime series D.P.D. Echo 1.
Like her older onscreen sis, little Ruthie Camden shocked her squeaky clean fanbase when she posed for a sexy Maxim shoot in 2013. By then, she'd booked a handful of post-7th Heaven credits, including a four-episode stint on The Secret Life of the American Teenager and TV movie Ghost Shark.
But it's her other passion that fills up her Instagram feed, the equestrienne show jumper a fixture on the competitive circuit. Having lost stepsister Katelyn Salmont to cystic fibrosis, Rosman also devotes much of her time to working with charities such as the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Childhelp Inc. and CureFinders.
All in the family: With younger brother Geoff Stults already recurring as Mary's love interest Ben Kinkirk, the college wrestler auditioned for a bit part on the series, only to land a regular role as Ben's older brother Kevin who romances and, eventually weds, Lucy.
His big break after guest spots on Will & Grace and Friends, the actor and animal activist parlayed the five-season gig into parts on Zoo and Melissa & Joey and a secured place in the Hallmark Channel universe, appearing in holiday fare like 2015's I'm Not Ready for Christmas, 2019's A Kiss on Candy Cane Lane and last season's Hope for the Holidays.
This story was originally published on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021 at 10:06 a.m. PT