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.

We thought the show was over. It was announced way back in November of 2005 that this would be the last season of the WB's family drama 7th Heaven. Then, The CW came along, which merged the UPN and WB networks into one, and there were new rumors of the show being renewed. The rumors became truth this past week when The CW announced an 11th season of the show during its upfronts.

This, of course, led everyone else to the most logical question to ask about this whole situation:  What the hell?

It turns out that the executives at The CW were probably asking the same question themselves, since they didn't know the status of the show until the last minute. According to statements made at Thursday's upfronts the renewal decision was made sometime between the promotion of and airing of the series finale and the upfront presentation. After looking at the show's ratings (7 million for the finale and 5.2 million during the rest of the season, making it the most-watched show on either the WB or UPN) the cost of the show, and the rest of the new CW schedule, the decision was made to bring back the Camden brood.

 

Variety is reporting that Monday night's episode is in fact the series finale for 7th Heaven. I guess all those rumors that the show was getting an 11th season were really just rumors. WB had previously announced that this season was the final one but when WB and UPN caved, things weren't so clear with new network The CW.

The show will wrap up with the return of Jessica Biel and Barry Watson, just in time for Simon Camden's marriage to Rose. "We think it will be pretty satisfying to people," said Stephen Collins, who plays Eric Camden.