'7th Heaven' is coming to a close -- or is it?

Rumors have been flying about whether the show is really over.
NEW YORK (AP) -- It's been a weird spring for the people on "7th Heaven," which ends like it spent most of its 10-year life -- disrespected despite being more popular than anything else the WB network has on the air.
Told last fall that the series was ending, they've been teased with the idea that it would live again, only to be disappointed.
The Camden family will gather Monday night for Simon's wedding in an episode that weaves in scenes from the pilot first aired in August 1996.
A few weeks after "7th Heaven" officially became the longest-running family drama in TV history, the WB announced in November that this would be its last season. No official reason was given, but it's best to follow the money in these circumstances: Successful series become much more expensive as they age, primarily because the pay for everyone shoots up, and "7th Heaven" has a large cast.
Yet before the finale was filmed, the WB was canceled, too.
Corporate owners said they were shutting down the WB and UPN networks at the end of this summer. They will combine forces to make a new network, the CW, which debuts in September.
Almost immediately there was talk that "7th Heaven" wasn't really dead, or that it might be replaced by a spinoff.
Stephen Collins, who portrays family patriarch Rev. Eric Camden., said his agent received a cryptic phone call from someone involved with the show wondering if Collins would be available if the series were to continue in some form. He's also curious about why the show's sets weren't torn down a month after the finale was filmed.
No one's told him anything more definitive, so he's left to assume it really is over.
There was substance to some of the rumors. A couple of months ago, there was a quiet meeting involving the show's producers; Dawn Ostroff, programming chief for the CW; and Nancy Tellem, who oversees CBS-owned studios. "7th Heaven" is produced by Spelling Television, which is owned by Paramount TV, which is owned by CBS Corp., which owns part of the CW.
Got that? Since there was now a financial relationship between the studio and network, they explored whether it made financial sense to keep the series alive.
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