Lilit Marcus: May 2007 Archives

This past Sunday the CW aired the series finale of "7th Heaven," one of the most successful family dramas in history. At some point, any show that runs a long time runs the risk of veering into soap opera territory. "7th Heaven" was no exception. What began as a drama about a minister, his wife, and their five impossibly good-looking kids turned into an overblown saga about the minister, his wife, their new twins, their kids who left the show but still got talked about, their neighbors, their kids' significant others, and random orphans who got taken in by the family.

Eleven years and one return from the brink of cancellation later, what will "7th Heaven's" legacy be?

A large part of the show's success was its appeal to families. While other WB shows like "Dawson's Creek" were aimed at hormone-heavy teenagers, "7th Heaven" worked to maintain a moral center. Although we never found out exactly what Protestant denomination the Camden clan belonged to, their Christian faith influenced the show's storylines. Because the five Camden kids were so different, every young person watching the show had someone they could identify with. The topics covered by the show, whether light (schoolwork, sports, crushes) or serious (homelessness, death, Darfur), were all handled sensitively and with the family's religion in mind.

And then, something happened. It's not clear what, but I trace the show's decline to when the kids got older. No show can stay the same forever, and the producers would have been stupid to ignore the facts that their child actors were aging. However, interesting storylines took a backseat to real-life conflicts on the show. Jessica Biel, who played oldest daughter Mary, scandalized the show's producers when she posed for scantily clad shots in a men's magazine.

Creator and head writer Brenda Hampton's real-life frustration with Biel resulted in Mary being completely written out of character and becoming the "7th Heaven" version of a wild child. Even after Biel left the show, Mary was vilified off camera to the point where her nonexistent character had a more central role in some episodes than people who were actually on the show. After Biel left the show, Barry Watson (oldest kid Matt) and David Gallagher (son Simon) both expressed disinterest in remaining full-time cast members, so their characters were shipped off to med school and college respectively, and were allowed to appear in fewer episodes.

To make up for the migration of original Camden kids off the series, a slate of peripheral characters appeared from seemingly nowhere: assistant pastor Chandler; police officer Roxanne, Simon's girlfriend Cecelia (a pre-nose job Ashlee Simpson), high school students Martin and Mac ... the list was endless. The show's focus changed, and the central themes were diluted as a result. The show that wasn't afraid to mention God or discuss theology suddenly had Reverend Camden wondering what plans "Life" had for him.

Furthermore, more and more plotlines revolved around sex. Either characters were having it or they weren't, but the show's almost obsession with the topic was distracting and a bit icky. Rather than have one episode to delve into a particular hot-button topic and then deal with it in an intelligent way (an example of this was the very well-done episode where Lucy's school friend died), entire season-long plots were done around sexuality, like Simon wondering if God would punish him for having premarital sex or Martin fathering an out of wedlock child. What could have been educational and insightful became preachy and muddled.

For better or for worse, "7th Heaven" ended with the Camdens (and some of their assorted hangers-on) literally driving off into the sunset. As the Camdens started their RV and went on their way, I can only wonder how they will be remembered. Will it be for the earlier years, where they sensitively portrayed a religious family? Or will it be for what the show devolved into later on? Regardless, let's thank God--or Life--for reruns, and see what syndication does to the Camdens.

I love bad TV. And what's worse than MTV's "The Real World/Road Rules Challenge," which combines three bad TV staples ("The Real World," "Road Rules," and people doing idiotic stunts for prizes) into one frothy package? The Challenge also has a gift for choosing all the most loathsome and annoying former contestants and cramming them into one show.

Until recently, "Road Rules" Australia veteran Susie Meister was largely off of my hate radar screen. During the last Challenge, she was unfairly ganged up upon by other "alpha girl" contestants who didn't like Susie's clean-cut persona. Susie, you see, is a born-again Christian. She's also perky, loves "The Brady Bunch," and wears her blonde hair in pigtails. Although most of the contestants' idea of recreation is getting drunk and hooking up with each other, Susie has a husband back home. Her values didn't endear her to the other girls on the show, especially when she fended off a rival castmate's insults with, "I'll pray for you."

Something has changed since the last Challenge, though. This time, Susie was ready to scheme and make alliances in order to win. She encouraged her teammates to throw a challenge and let her win so she wouldn't have to go into the inferno (a head to head battle where the loser is kicked off the show) against a stronger competitor. She insulted a cast member on camera, calling the other girl fat and "insane."

Once a girl who made a point of wearing wholesome swimsuits instead of prancing around in string bikinis, Susie's website now features a photo of her in a leopard-print nightie. When a couple of the male contestants sneaked into the girls' room to play a prank, Susie wasn't content to chase the guys out of the room- she physically hit Real World Paris alum Ace several times, but then claimed she'd felt like she was in danger.

It's a pretty quick turnaround from quoting scripture to threatening other contestants, isn't it? In a recent interview with the website Buddy TV, Susie said this when asked about her faith: "What I find to be the hardest part is just the ego of it all. You start to actually believe that you are really important, so you have to really keep that in check because let's face it, it's fun to be on a reality TV show--but it is what it is." Hey, Susie? Might be time to take your own advice.

Over the weekend, I logged onto one of my favorite websites, Go Fug Yourself, to get their take on the most important celebutante-related gossip of the weekend: Paris Hilton being sentenced to 45 days in jail. Sure enough, their top post began with the following: "Karma is a bitch. And so is Paris Hilton."

Oh, Paris. We all love to hate you. Every article about you is usually run with a caveat about how you're famous for nothing, how you're an example of everything that's wrong with America today, and how if we just stopped paying attention, you'd slink away forever. We call you words like idiot and slut, words we'd be offended and horrified to have anyone call us. We write about how much we hate all the coverage you get. We talk about how much we hate how people always talk about you. We see how well tabloids sell when your picture is on the cover, and we swear it must be someone else who's buying them. Oh, Paris. In many ways we are no better than you.

Karma? Sure. Let's talk about karma. Let's talk about how when you put something out into the universe, you get more of it in return. So when our society values blondes with blue eyes and perfect tans, a dark-haired, wealthy, and well-connected teenage girl named Paris dyes her hair, goes to a tanning salon, and gets her parents to buy her colored contacts. She becomes the extreme form of all the things we've idealized, and we hate her for it. So there's your karma: We've gotten what we've asked for.

Advertisements make us feel inferior because we don't have the expensive cars and designer clothes--but Paris gets to have them. And though many of us believe that we value love, kindness, and generosity, we're more likely to buy the latest issue of Us Weekly about Paris' latest boyfriend escapades then we are to give that money to a homeless person on the street. We hate Paris because we made her. We hate Paris because we think we could do a better job being her. What kind of karma comes out of that?

Paris going to jail for committing a crime could be considered karmic retribution. Or it could just be considered the American judicial system in action. But in most cases it would be declasse to yell and cheer in court. However, if you're the judge sentencing Paris, you get a standing ovation.

If we want Paris to go to prison for doing something illegal, that's one thing. But most of the articles I've been reading take obvious glee in Paris' sentence, as if they want her to go to prison just for being who she is and see her probation violation as the excuse needed to make it happen. A culture where simply being disliked, which may have been an undercurrent in a court decision for jail time, is a culture I want no part of. Regardless of what good or bad opinions I have of Paris, I'd never wish evil upon her. I hear that's bad for your karma.