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Q: I used to watch "7th Heaven," and I really miss that show. Any chance of it coming back on?

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Given the show's quiet, sleeper-hit status, perhaps it's not entirely surprising that it's been overlooked by networks for syndication, but it's certainly unjust.

Despite having cranked out a whopping 246 episodes between 1996 and 2007, "7th Heaven" remains a largely unmined source of reruns. ABC Family, WGN America and the Hallmark Channel brought it back for a few years each, but all have since abandoned it -- it last appeared on American television on Sept. 8, 2010 on WGN (it survived on the Canadian Crossroads Television System for a few months after that).

It's unjust because the series was incredibly successful in its run on the WB (and on the WB's successor, CW), and indeed holds a couple of rather notable records.

The series aired for 11 seasons, making it the longest-running family drama in television history -- beating previous record holders "The Waltons" and "Little House on the Prairie," which both stopped at nine.

"7th Heaven" is also the longest-running series created by prime-time drama guru Aaron Spelling (beating out his classic '90s series "Beverly Hills 90210" and his even more classic '80s series "The Love Boat," both of which capped at 10 seasons), and the longest-running series to air on the WB.

The heartwarming family drama followed the lives of Rev. Eric Camden, a Protestant minister in a smallish California town, his wife and their seven children. It surprised quite a few TV watchers for being a lot less racy than Spelling's previous fare, such as prime-time soaps "Dynasty" and "Melrose Place." "7th Heaven" was also significantly less racy than the subsequent work of one of the young stars it introduced, present-day bombshell Jessica Biel.

Though it can't currently be found on the air anywhere, you can always fill the void with DVD boxed sets -- each season is available, as is the full-series set (which, as you can probably guess, fills up a lot of discs).

 

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