I watched the odd episode from time to time. It annoyed me that every member of the family always seemed to be dealing with the same issues at the same time (albeit from their own age perspective.) I also found it passing strange that you hardly ever saw Rev. Camden in a church. He always seemed more like a social worker. The show never really captured my interest.

I could never sit through a single maudlin minute of this mediocre mess. 

I only caught a few episodes of the show.  I wouldn't be able to name any of the characters.

As for the interest though, I find that's true of most shows.  I think it's a bit of both.  You mature a little bit, interests shift even when they aren't related to maturing, and society changes too.

I have to say that I absolutely loved the first few seasons of this show (and still enjoy them on the rare occasion that I catch them on repeat). I have to admit that I had a crush on the oldest son, Matt. As an only child, I always wanted to be a part of a big, loving family with tons of siblings. Of course, there were things that I had issues with in the show - all religious leaders were male, for example, and homosexuality simply didn't seem to exist - but, for me, the good outweighed the bad.

Will also admit to enjoying it back in the day!

I didn't watch the show but is it possible that was his ministry? I know in UU'ism we have the concept of community ministry where a minister works with a specific community (not necessarily in the geographic sense but more in the social sense) rather than a traditional church.

Example: One of our interim ministers five or six years back was a woman with a disability (used a power chair due to Cerebral Palsy or something like that) whose regular role was community ministry to people with physical disabilities. A mix of counselling and advocacy (and she was very vocal advocate for her causes). Quite a remarkable lady and I think our congregation was much richer for having known her.

Mendalla

No, Mendalla. I saw enough of the show to realize that he was supposed to be the minister of a church, and periodically you saw him in one - and on very rare occasions even in vestments (well, I remember a Geneva gown and stole once I think.) He was clearly a church minister, but you got the impression that he never really had much to do as the minister of a church. Sort of the "hour a week" concept. Church ministry just isn't exciting enough for network TV I guess.

I taped the episode where the littlest prayed for a horse. Prayer doesnt work that way. The kids loved it and it made an impression with the confirmation class.I still have it (VCR) will have to look at it again and see if anything has changed

And if they tried to make it exciting enough, I'm sure it would be no more accurate. I'm picturing something soapy with lurid sex scandals and fist fights in the pews. And that's if it was on network TV. Just think what would happen on cable ...

Mendalla

somegalfromgal: Lucy actually grew up to be a minister on the show :)

Thank you - I had actually forgotten that! 

I enjoyed watching tfrom time to time.

As a Trekker it was interesting to me since both of the adult leads have a connecion to the Trek movies.

I always wondered why the youngest child character was of a different race than the entire rest of the family.

It appears it was never part of the story just a casting issue.

Okay, I had to look that one up in IMDB. I knew Stephen Collins had played Commander Decker in Star Trek : The Motion Picture but forgot about Catherine Hicks' role in The Voyage Home.

Interracial adoption?

Mendalla

I may me mis-remembering because I didn't watch much TV in the 90's other than Star Trek but weren't there a lot of similarly themed shows at the time. There was this whole 'get back to family friendly spiritual fair' thing going in Television for awhile. We had 7th Heaven, Touched By An Angel and at least one other that I can't recall the title of - about the family that adopted all the kids, the Mom was a vet or a Dr....

Actually, Mackenzie Rosman (the girl who played Ruthie) is white.  She's a little darker than the rest of them because she has some Cherokee in her background, but I think that she only looked a lot different because the rest of the family is so pale.  In the storyline she was a biological child and we know this because there was an episode when the mom was pregnant with Sam and David and she was looking for her "pregnancy project" and they identified what she was doing when she was pregnant with each of the other kids.  

Here is a cast picture showing just the family.  Ruthie is a tiny bit darker than the others, but Matt (the eldest brother) is also a bit darker.  I don't think she really stands out that much from the rest of them.

Great picture!  I've never seen that one before! 

Rowan: maybe Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman?

nope the one I am thinking of was set in the 'present'.  I actually like Dr Quinn.