Carol Seaver is a main character in Growing Pains.
Overview[]
Carol Seaver is what you would consider the “brain” of the family. She is on the honor roll at high school and knows a lot of information about a myriad of subjects. She, however, would be happier being thought of as cute, as opposed to smart, at times. She is interested in boys, they just not as interested in her, but this of course changes as she gets older.
Biography[]
Carol enjoys studying and at 14 she is starting to be interested in boys. Although she considers herself cute, she is dealing with issues of her self-image and plain-Jane appearance. Mike and Ben pick up on this and constantly taunt and tease her.
Carol's first serious romance begins this season when she begins dating popular jock named Bobby Wynette. She had been hired to tutor Bobby to help him pass a class and maintain academic eligibility.
Carol's relationship with Bobby continues to grow, to the point where the two get engaged. However, the two eventually realise they are not ready to get married and break up.
Late in the season, Carol joins Mike in rallying to save Coach Graham Lubbock's teaching job at Dewey High, Carol agreeing to go along with Mike when he tells her that Lubbock has a pregnant wife and large family and they are living in a run-down apartment they can barely afford. The effort is unsuccessful, and Mike and Carol are among those arrested for staging a sit-in to protest his dismissal. However, these events lead to Lubbock being hired as a teacher and coach at a private Catholic school in California.
Carol, now a senior at Dewey High, has issues with self-perception, which come to the surface when she is announced as one of the candidates for homecoming queen; she doesn't win but in the end has a great time at the dance. Carol eventually graduates -- with honours -- from Dewey High.
An underage Carol joins the college drinking scene, and it is in the process that she meets a college student named Sandy, with whom a serious relationship begins to blossom. She does not know that Sandy has a serious drinking problem. In the episode Second Chance, Sandy and Carol go out for a night of heavy drinking; shortly after dropping Carol off at home, Sandy is involved in a car accident. He is hospitalised and seems to be only slightly injured, but after returning home from visiting him at the hospital, Mike informs Carol that Sandy had died of internal bleeding. Carol -- knowing he had cruelly ridiculed Sandy in the past -- thinks that he's crossed a serious line but soon realises that a shaken Mike is telling the truth, and allows him (and the others) to console her.Early in the season, Carol takes time off from school and finds employment at GSM Publishing. She also deals with her grief over Sandy's tragic death -- brought to the surface in "Teach Me" and soon begins dating again.
coming soon
coming soon
Trivia []
- Carol was played by Elizabeth Ward in the Unaired Pilot.
- In the episode Graduation Day we see a younger version of Carol. Little Carol was played by the late Judith Barsi.
Gallery []
