“7th Heaven”'s On-Set Teachers Recall Storyline That Triggered Safety Fears and How They Kept the Peace Between Child Stars
- - - “7th Heaven”'s On-Set Teachers Recall Storyline That Triggered Safety Fears and How They Kept the Peace Between Child Stars
Angela AndaloroJuly 8, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Jerry Wolfe / Spelling Prod. / Courtesy Everett Collection
7th Heaven's Beverly Mitchell, Jessica Biel, David Gallagher and Mackenzie Rosman
Catching Up with the Camdens hosts Beverley Mitchell, David Gallagher and Mackenzie Rosman were joined by their on-set teachers
The hosts recalled what it was like dealing with school both while filming 7th Heaven and in the downtime between seasons
7th Heaven aired on the WB (later The CW) for 11 seasons from 1996 to 2007
7th Heaven's cast full of child stars made schooling an important component of the show's early seasons.
On the latest episode of their rewatch podcast, Catching Up with the Camdens, Beverley Mitchell, David Gallagher and Mackenzie Rosman chatted with the show's studio teachers, who were responsible for educating the young castmates on set.
As the two teachers, Cheryl Diamond and Susie Salerno, explained, their job description also required them to "enforce child labor laws on set," which meant looking out for each star's "health, safety and welfare."
"We would oversee if we thought something dangerous was happening on set. We would speak up and let the directors know," Diamond said.
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Asked if that was ever necessary on the 7th Heaven set, Diamond recalled an uncomfortable interaction with a producer over the presence of a gun in one of the episodes.
"Well, I spoke up once at a table read and the producer was Burt Brinckerhoff. And he didn't like what I had to ask about because there was a fake gun but I needed to make sure that it passed our inspection and everything," Diamond shared.
"And I wasn't challenging the fact that it was going to be safe, but I was doing my job."
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The cast of "7th Heaven" in 1999
The child actors were required to get in three hours of instructional time for every full day on set, which the teachers said were sometimes pieced together "20 minutes at a time."
Diamond, who taught Mitchell and costar Jessica Biel together since they were just a grade apart, also recalled "refereeing" debates between the on-screen sisters.
"I actually distinctly remember a conversation where I was dealing with faith, and I was very hardcore in my Christian faith at that time, and Jessie was challenging me," Mitchell shared.
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Beverly Mitchell and Jessica Biel in November 2024
"I remember that you played referee, and you're like, 'I am in the middle of this conversation between these two, and there's no right or wrong.' And I'm trying to just, like, play nice because it was our first, real debate, and I just remember you managing us very well."
While Diamond didn't remember that particular argument, she did remember "I refereed," because "it was just different learning styles."
"I also think that because Jessie and I were we were so close in age that it's like, we were meant to battle. And Jessie also knew, like, it brought her great joy to push my buttons," Mitchell added with a laugh. "And I didn't know how to recognize when she was doing it on purpose."
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