30 Years Ago Today: The WB Premiered A Family Drama That Outlived The Network

If you grew up in the 1990s or 2000s, it's impossible to forget "7th Heaven," a family drama that premiered on The WB exactly 30 years ago today — and went on to outlive the network.

"7th Heaven" followed a Protestant minister and his wife raising seven children in suburban California. It starred Stephen Collins as the show's patriarch, Eric Camden, and Catherine Hicks as his wife, Annie Camden. Their children were played by Barry Watson, David Gallagher, Beverley Mitchell, Mackenzie Rosman, Nikolas and Lorenzo Brino, and none other than Jessica Biel in her breakout role.

The Aaron Spelling-produced series aired for 10 seasons on The WB, which made it the longest-running show ever for the network as well as its most-watched. After Season 10 concluded in May 2006, "7th Heaven" aired one more season on The CW, the new network created as a result of the merger between The WB and UPN. After helping usher in the new brand identity with its final season, the show concluded in May 2007.

"7th Heaven" wasn't the only show to make the leap from The WB to The CW, with the likes of "Supernatural," "Smallville," "One Tree Hill," and "Gilmore Girls" all crossing over. However, those shows all started in the 2000s. At the time, "7th Heaven" was regarded as one of the building blocks of The WB, having debuted the year after the network launched. "7th Heaven" joining The CW helped legitimize the new network for '90s kids who grew up watching the Camden clan navigate life in the fictional California town of Glen Oak.

One thing that made "7th Heaven" stand out from some of the best 1990s TV shows was its Christian values. The series was praised by the conservative advocacy group Parents Television Council for the way it provided "moral solutions to tough issues facing teenagers without seeming preachy or heavy-handed." It also featured a lot of cautionary tales about drug use, which allowed it to access a government advertising subsidy that had been created by the White House to push an anti-drug message via prime time TV.

Today, the show is less remembered for its clean-cut messaging and more for the fact that it birthed a major star in Jessica Biel, who played the eldest Camden daughter Mary. "7th Heaven" was Biel's first major acting credit, and it opened the door for movie roles. While she was still playing Mary, Biel starred in a remake of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and played Abigail Whistler in "Blade: Trinity," both of which were box office hits. She's more into producing these days — in fact, a "7th Heaven" reboot series is in development with Biel as an executive producer.