7th Heaven: Barry Watson, Beverley Mitchell celebrate show's 20th anniversary

It’s been exactly two decades since the WB premiered one of its most iconic, long-running dramas: 7th Heaven. Keeping up with the trials and tribulations of the Camdens — the supposedly squeaky-clean family of minister Eric Camden — became must-watch television for many families throughout the late ’90s and early ’00s. Now, 20 years later, the characters are still close to the hearts of the actors that portrayed them… even if they would’ve liked to change up the hairstyles.

Beverley Mitchell, who played the sometimes overshadowed middle child Lucy Camden, has been sharing a lot of throwback photos from the set of 7th Heaven on her Instagram and personal blog this week in celebration of the big anniversary. Most of the snapshots show Mitchell with the two co-stars closest to her age — Barry Watson (thoughtful big brother Matt Camden) and Jessica Biel (black sheep older sister Mary Camden) — including a screengrab from the show in which she marvels at the trio’s hair choices.

The looks may have seemed bizarre for Mitchell, but not to Watson. The actor responded that he’s growing his formerly long locks back out again.

And that’s not all Watson has to say. He reflected on his time as Matt Camden in an interview with Refinery29 on Thursday, revealing that he was sceptical to do a show with Aaron Spelling and that he didn’t think 7th Heaven would ever attract an audience.

“I remember the days before I even got on the show, and I first started acting, I was like, ‘Oh my god, I don’t know if I ever want to be in one of those Spelling shows,'” Watson said. “Sure enough, I had the reading for the network, and they wanted me to do it and, actually, at the time, I didn’t know if anybody wanted to see a show like [7th Heaven]. But I was truly wrong. I mean truly, truly wrong.”

For her part, Mitchell has written multiple blog posts reminscing on old photos from set, including sweet notes to her costars Watson, Biel, David Gallagher, and Mackenzie Rosman; sharing one of her favorite memories of fake fighting in bridesmaids dresses with Biel; and revealing that she and Biel had a crush on Watson “for a minute.”

Check out more of Mitchell’s Instagram posts below.