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Interviews - Zap2It
'7th Heaven' Son's Return to Tackle Sex and Parenthood (August 2004, Zap2It)

A lot of his fans may still not be old enough to drive, but 19-year-old David Gallagher is now a proud USC Trojan and eager to have Simon Camden, his character on The WB's family drama "7th Heaven," grow up as well. And it looks like he's getting his wish, as the show moves into its ninth season beginning on Monday, Sept. 13.
"Simon is the first Camden to have premarital sex," Gallagher says, talking while shaving in the makeup trailer in preparation for a kissing scene with actress Rheagan Wallace, who plays new girlfriend Georgia. "Simon is a stud all of a sudden."

With three of their seven children - Matt (Barry Watson), Mary (Jessica Biel) and Lucy (Beverley Mitchell) - already married, the Reverand Eric Camden (Stephen Collins) and wife Annie (Catherine Hicks) never had to deal with this scenario before.

"It is amazing when you think about it," Collins says, while taking his break between scenes in the outdoor set of the Camden back yard. "The three oldest kids all got married without having premarital sex that we know about. You could think that maybe Matt had but you don't know. We never addressed it. I must say it doesn't seem so earth-shaking to me. What's great about it is how we try, probably very unsuccessfully, to deal with it, in that way that people think they can control things. As a parent, you do the best you can. You lose a lot of battles, I think they're going to lose this one. But I love it, because it's real."

Gallagher eagerly agrees. "It is up to me to be the bad boy. I love it. It is the most interesting work. I talked to the writers. They have a lot of funny character stuff that they want to do like how the family reacts, how everyone freaks out and makes a big deal of it.

"Simon decides, 'This is great, I respect everyone's opinion but I really like having sex so I'm just going to keep doing that.' When Brenda (series creator Brenda Hampton) told me that, I said, 'Good for you, Brenda, and good for me. That's brilliant.' I was waiting for her to say that everyone talks me out of it. I was like, 'No that's no fun.'"

As an issue-based family drama, 7th Heaven has tackled topics ranging from the personal to societal and Collins feels this is just another step on that path.

"He's in college," Collins says, "so while it's earth-shaking in the world of '7th Heaven,' I can't imagine too many parents of 18 or 19-year-old kids that aren't thinking about this or dealing with this in some way, shape or form. So, for those more easily shocked or more conservative families watching, from what I've seen so far, it's handled really well. Listen, they've got seven kids. They can't really expect every one of them to grow up precisely the way they were proscribed -- a preacher's kid especially."

Absent for much of last season, Gallagher has juggled his schedule of classes at USC so he can work Mondays on the show. With kids having sex, kids having babies and kids just growing up, Collins feels that 7th Heaven - The WB's most watched show for several seasons now - has plenty of gas left in the tank. "I think Brenda's inspired by the shape of the show this year," he says, "and having Barry and David back. This premiere script is as fun as any script we've ever done. Brenda seems to get that this show is about telling the story of this family in real time."
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