Family TV Programming

Legacy of the WB's '7th Heaven'

By
Relationship Advice Expert April Masini

Q: Dear April Masini,

My teenage daughters and I used to tune in every week to watch 7th Heaven. With so much garbage on television, I really valued the religious message and family aspect of the show. But now the show has been canceled, and I don't want my daughters watching any of the TV trash on other channels. Will there ever be another 7th Heaven?

Sincerely,

TV Hell 

A:

Dear TV Hell, 
Let me assure you that 7th Heaven may be gone for now, but it WILL be back. It's all about the pendulum swinging back and forth from trend to trend. 7th Heaven was a clean cut, intact family with a religious character as the star -- can you spell wholesome? And guess what? In this age of Sodom and Gomorrah, people responded to 7th Heaven. It was a huge hit with tweens, teens, kids and adults. Surprised? Don't be. There's always been an audience for Leave It To Beaver, Gidget, Gilligan's Island, The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family as well as The Cosby Show. These are shows that are wholesome and about family togetherness -- even if the family is seven strangers stranded on a desert island, they form a family. 

The trend swung away from wholesome shows in the 80s when black humor became popular and Roseanne, Grace Under Fire and Seinfeld --- all dark, comedian based comedies -- became the trend and edged out the kindness of the 7th Heaven type of shows. 

But with naked Abercrombie and Fitch models in posters assaulting us pretty much everywhere we turn, and reality television taking provocative and bad manners to new levels, there will be a swing of the pendulum back to family values and shows about families who try to work it out and stay intact and put family first. Stay tuned.

April Masini -- nicknamed "the new millennium's Dear Abby" by the media, is author of the best-selling books Date Out Of Your League and Think & Date Like A Man, the two (just released) step-by-step dating and relationship manuals, Ideas for a Fun Date and Romantic Date Ideas, and the critically acclaimed dating and relationship online magazine www.AskApril.com.

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