It turns out, coming back for an eleventh season isn't such a great thing for the cast and crew of 7th Heaven. According to this article (credited to a Wall Street Journal writer), The CW has the veteran show on a shoestring budget. When The CW brought it back from the dead last spring, CBS Paramount Television, the company that produces the show, cut salaries across the board for actors, producers and writers. CBS also ordered editing to be done in six days rather than seven and it cut all nighttime shoots, which can get expensive. Thanks to all the cost cutting, The CW pays between $1.4 and $1.8 million per episode, compared to the $3 million that WB paid to air each episode. That price is 70% below what most networks pay for an hour-long show.Story decisions have also been effected by the tight budget. For example, the big surprise at the end of season 10 where Mary and Sarah were both pregnant with twins couldn't be played out through season 11 because there isn't any money for more child actors. The article also details what is going to happen with Lucy's pregnancy. Ruthie is off at school in Scotland indefinitely, until there's money to pay the actress to return for an episode or two. And the contracts for the parents only require them to appear in 10 of 13 episodes... leaving the writers wondering what the hell they're going to do for three episodes.
It's sad, really. A show that lasted for ten years is essentially being treated like dirt by a network that was desperate to get ratings but obviously doesn't want to pay for them.
TV Squad Ten: Top Ten ESPN shows from worst to first
Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
Have any questions for Vik Sahay of Chuck? Ask them here!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-29-2006 @ 11:19AM
stephen p. said...
we all would have been better off if they left this show dead and picked up aquaman instead. oh well.
Reply
9-29-2006 @ 11:47AM
Karen said...
Oh, please. It couldn't happen to a more deserving show. Every year it devolved from an interesting, heartwarming family comedy-drama into a twisted meditation on a profoundly dysfunctional family in which everyone spies on each other, everyone judges each other, and no one ever pays any attention to the twins.
I knew that the WB had cancelled it because of its expense, but I am surprised to learn that the budget leash the CW is keeping it on cuts it down below other shows its length. If Dawn Ostroff thought it was so important to bring it back, then she might at least have given it material to work with.
At least this explains why the stories are concentrating on tertiary characters played by actors whose salaries haven't inflated over the run of the show, like Haylie Duff and Taylor Hoechlin. But it doesn't explain why anyone should give a damn about it.
Better it was left to rot on the vine.
Reply
9-29-2006 @ 2:55PM
troy said...
I think alot of CW's shows could have a problem if everyones cable network is like mine. I have Time Warner Cable and they aren't offering the CW network to those on standard cable. All i get is a blue screen that informs me I could be watching if only i was willing to pay twice as much for digital.
Reply
9-29-2006 @ 7:53PM
Megan said...
7th Heaven is my favorite show. If the CW is treating it like dirt then theres a huge problem! Theirs 22 new episodes not 13.
Reply
9-29-2006 @ 10:32PM
tv junkie said...
I'm a Everwood fan, so I don't care much about 7th Heaven. But I do agree that if the CW was so committed in this show, they shouldn't have cut the budget. No, they should never have picked up "Runaway."
Reply
9-30-2006 @ 6:07AM
Jennifer said...
I really like the show, but I agree if they picked it up again then they must have thought it was worth doing so. The only question is then why are they cutting the budget and droping caracters? They might as well just have dropped the show, like they did with most of the good shows. I think this new "CW" network is going to be pretty bad if not awful. Do they really know what they are doing, I think they would have been best to keep the WB as it was and not merge, it was doing great and was a popular station. It was a free channel not even a cable station and what is this I hear now you have to have digital to get "the new and unimproved "CW"." I think there is a string of bad decissions going around. Like I said they cancalled all the shows that were doing well like Charmed, and what about Beauty and the Geek that was great. Maybe they are just cheap and didn't want to pay so they let there pockets make the decissions not there commen sense and intellect. I don't know maybe it is better that I am abroad right now and can't get "CW" even if I got a satallite. This just sucks!
Reply
9-30-2006 @ 11:19AM
Patty Heald said...
I love the show. I can't imagine why they are cutting the funds. We finally get a decent christian family show and they cut it down. I am not alone on this thinking. I have a lot of friends that watch it all the time. We are only about to CBS and no the WB. So we only see reruns. I know we need more shows for the family. This being one of the best. I love the actors and the whole family. Please keep it going, the whole midwest is watching.
Thanks
Reply