This subject was addressed (sort of) in the FAQ, but I just wasn't satisfied with the answer. So... I watched and recorded the pilot episode when it re-aired last year. In it, Carol was engaged to some football dude and seemed to be overwhelmed with the marriage plans at the time of her suicide attempt. Doug seemed to be little more than a past romantic fling to her. When I finally saw the first regular season episodes on TNT a couple of months ago, suddenly Doug-induced heartache seemed to be the primary motivation for her suicide attempt, there was no more mention of the football star fiance, and Taglieri was her boyfriend (supposedly since before the time of her suicide attempt). Did I miss something? Or was it just "amnesia" on the part of the writers when, due to popular demand, it was decided that Carol wouldn't be killed off in the pilot (as mentioned in the FAQ), and instead had to be worked in with the rest of the cast?

-- Marcy Rolfe (mrolfe@aznet.net), April 01, 1999

Answers

Ooh!! Ooh!! I know this!! I can shed a little light (or at least a flashbulb) on this for you...Taglieri and the "football star" are one in the same. If I remember correctly, Dr. Benton actually describes Carol's fiance'- when he's talking to Carter- as a "doctor who used to be a football star (or star college football player)," but never mentions his name. (I think references to Tag's football days are made in later episodes.)...Carol seems to have taken up with Tag soon after her breakup with Doug (as later dialogue would suggest), but she flatly denies in the third or fourth episode that Doug was the reason (or, perhaps, the sole reason) for her suicide attempt...according to the actress Julianna Marguiles herself, Carol was indeed supposed to die in the pilot (she is billed as a "guest star" only in the opening credits), but when the pilot was run for "test audiences," they absolutely loved the character. Fortunately, when Carol is wheeled into trauma, her fate is not confirmed by the end of the pilot, so there was room for her to recover (off-camera, for several weeks I think) and come back into the series full-force.

-- Chris A. (MCA1961@aol.com), April 05, 1999.

Notice how, in the pilot Susan said that her FIANCEE didn't know anything either, but in a later ep, (I think it was blizzard), Carol announces her engagement, and nobody knew about it before that. Strange.

-- Lisa (Shaniakicks@hotmail.com), January 03, 2000.

Another question concerning Carol' past: Has there ever been any word on if she has sisters or brothers or if she's a single kid? I just can't remember. Somehow the idea settled that she had two older sisters, but I think that's a story some fanfics made up- although there are quite a few about the 'Hathaway sisters', so I'm sort of assuming it's true anyway. Interesting Margulies has two sisters, too.

-- Anne (annebercher@gmx.de), March 16, 2001.

Carol has 2 older sisters. She said so to Anna in one episode, I never remember which.

-- JLS (ewwhatevr@aol.com), March 16, 2001.

Anne, in case you didn't know, Julianna's real sister played a stewardess on the plane Carol took to Seattle last season in "Such Sweet Sorrow."

-- Diana (dilynne@juno.com), March 16, 2001.

Thanks you both!

-- Anne (annebercher@gmx.de), March 17, 2001.