Greg Nelson and Jenny Gardner are fictional characters and a
supercouple
A supercouple or super couple (also known as a power couple) is a popular and/or wealthy pairing that intrigues and fascinates the public in an intense or obsessive fashion. The term originated in the United States, and it was coined in the earl ...
from the American
soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
''
All My Children
''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 20 ...
''.
Greg was portrayed by
Laurence Lau
Laurence Henry Lau (born May 10, 1954) is an American television and stage actor, best known for his roles in several soap operas.
Lau was born in Long Beach, California and raised in Lake Oswego, Oregon. He attended Columbia University and Bri ...
, and Jenny was portrayed by actress
Kim Delaney
Kim Delaney (born November 29, 1961) is an American actress known for her starring role as Detective Diane Russell on the ABC drama television series ''NYPD Blue'', for which she won an Emmy Award. Early in her career, she played the role of Jenn ...
.
They were best friends to fellow supercouple
Jesse Hubbard and Angie Baxter
Jesse and Angela "Angie" Hubbard are fictional characters and a supercouple from the ABC and The Online Network daytime drama '' All My Children''. Jesse is portrayed by Darnell Williams and Angie is portrayed by Debbi Morgan.From 1990 to 1991, ...
.
Background
Writing
When the writers of ''
All My Children
''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 20 ...
'' had characters Greg and Jenny meet in 1981, after having Jenny move to the fictional town of
Pine Valley with her mother,
Opal Gardner (then portrayed by
Dorothy Lyman
Dorothy Lyman is an American television actress, director and producer. She is most known for her work as Gwen Frame on '' Another World'' and on ''All My Children'' as Opal Sue Gardner, as Rebecca Whitmore on '' Generations'', and on the sitcom ...
), they applied four obstacles to the couple's love story:
#Age (Jenny is younger than Greg. In 1981, Greg is a senior in high school while Jenny is only fifteen)
#Economic backgrounds (they come from different economic backgrounds; Jenny is working-class while Greg comes from a rich family in Pine Valley)
#Ex-girlfriend (Greg's ex-girlfriend,
Liza Colby
Liza Colby is a fictional character on the American soap opera, ''All My Children'', portrayed by actress Jamie Luner from April 2009 until September 2011. She was previously played by actress Marcy Walker from 1981–1984, and then again from 1 ...
, refuses to allow Greg and Jenny to be happy together and schemes to displace Jenny at all costs)
#Parents (Greg's mother, Enid Nelson, is a snob who thinks that Jenny is not good enough for her son)
Storyline
Greg and Jenny build slowly on their romance due to the four obstacles. In 1982, Liza almost succeeds in winning Greg back, but Jenny returns from vacation and his infatuation with Jenny grows even stronger. Liza rigs the ''Miss Junior Pine Valley contest'' so that she will win instead of Jenny; this does not deter Greg, who eventually tells Jenny that he loves her and wants to marry her.
Jenny eventually finds out that her father,
Ray Gardner (Gil Rodgers), who she thought was in prison for kidnapping is in fact in prison for
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...
. Liza finds out about this, and threatens to tell Greg unless Jenny withdraws herself from his life. Jenny runs away to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, followed by her friend
Jesse Hubbard
Jesse Hubbard (born September 18, 1975) is a former professional lacrosse player who played professional box lacrosse in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) and professional field lacrosse in the Major League Lacrosse (MLL).
Background
Hubbard st ...
(
Darnell Williams
Darnell Williams (born 3 March 1955) is a British-born soap opera actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Jesse Hubbard on the ABC soap opera '' All My Children'' from 1981 to 1988, and from 2008 to 2011, a role which has earned him two Day ...
), who has been falsely accused of attempted rape by Liza, who hates him for his friendship with Jenny. Jesse saves Jenny from being forced into making a
pornographic movie
Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include erotical ...
, and the two stand up for each other against the odds in the big city. Their summer in New York is considered one of the greatest storylines in the history of ''All My Children''. Trying to forget Jenny, Greg begins to date Amanda Cousins (
Amanda Bearse
Amanda Bearse (born August 9, 1958) is an American actress, comedian and director. She starred in the 1985 supernatural horror film ''Fright Night'', and later starred as Marcy Rhoades D'Arcy in the Fox sitcom '' Married... with Children'' (1987- ...
), Liza's longtime best friend who occasionally participated in Liza's scheming but is generally a much kinder person. Amanda realizes Greg is still in love with Jenny and discovers her current whereabouts which Liza persuades her to keep a secret from him. Ultimately, Amanda cannot play Lizaesque games and tells Greg where he can find Jenny. Jenny and Greg are reunited, as are Jesse and his love,
Angie Baxter (
Debbi Morgan
Deborah Ann Morgan (born September 20, 1956) is an American film and television actress. She played the role of Angie Baxter–Hubbard on the ABC soap opera ''All My Children'' for which she was the first African-American to win the Daytime Emm ...
).
Greg suffers a fall in 1983 and is paralyzed from the waist down. He wants the best for Jenny, so he breaks up with her romantically and encourages her to go to New York and pursue
modeling
A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure.
Models c ...
. Jenny goes to the big city and eventually is engaged to another model, Tony Barclay (
Brent Barrett
Brent Barrett (born February 28, 1957) is an American actor and tenor who is mostly known for his work within American theatre. Barrett has performed in musicals and in concerts with theatres, symphony orchestras, opera houses, and concert halls ...
), even though she still loves Greg.
When Greg regains the use of his legs in 1984, he goes to see Jenny so that he can salvage what they had together. They reconcile and Jenny breaks her engagement to Tony. Shortly thereafter, Greg and Jenny are married. Tony is angry that Greg has come back into Jenny's life, so he plots to kill him.
Tad Martin
Tad Martin is a fictional character from the American daytime drama, ''All My Children''. Tad was played by three actors, according to the age of the character: Matthew Anton, John E. Dunn, and Michael E. Knight. Knight has portrayed the role on a ...
(
Michael E. Knight
Michael Edward Knight (born May 7, 1959) is an American actor, best known for his role as Tad Martin on ABC soap opera '' All My Children''.
Biography
Knight was born in Princeton, New Jersey. He was educated at The Thacher School in Ojai, Cal ...
), Jenny's biological brother, schedules a day of fun for Greg and Jenny at Willow Lake, just outside town. Tony wires Greg's
jet ski
Jet Ski is the brand name of a personal watercraft (PWC) manufactured by Kawasaki, a Japanese company. The term is often used generically to refer to any type of personal watercraft used mainly for recreation, and it is also used as a verb to ...
to explode, but at the last minute, Jenny gets on the
jet ski
Jet Ski is the brand name of a personal watercraft (PWC) manufactured by Kawasaki, a Japanese company. The term is often used generically to refer to any type of personal watercraft used mainly for recreation, and it is also used as a verb to ...
instead and she ends up being the victim. She dies at Pine Valley Hospital at the age of 20, with Greg at her side.
A few weeks later, Greg thinks that he has seen Jenny again, but it turns out to be a girl named Sheila (played by Cynthia Sullivan) who has been hired by Jenny's former modeling agent Olga Svenson as a publicity stunt. Greg becomes involved with Sheila, but the audience balks at their quick and contrived romance in the wake of Jenny's untimely death. In a late December 1984 scene (the last appearance of Sheila), Greg and Sheila are shown having sex beneath a thermal blanket on the floor of Sheila's apartment. In a rather graphic scene for daytime, Greg is shown thrusting back and forth on top of Sheila, and moaning, "Jenny, Jenny," while the camera pans to Sheila's shocked face. Sheila's landlord Myrtle Fargate later tells Greg that Sheila has left town because she realizes he never loved her; he was only trying to use her to repress his grief over losing Jenny.
Two years later in 1986, Greg leaves Pine Valley for Washington, and in 1994, Jenny returns as a ghost (seemingly accompanied by the ghost of a deceased Jesse), to help Tad escape the twister, in which the Martin house is destroyed. Tad does indeed escape. The ghosts subsequently return to
Heaven
Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...
.
However, it is revealed in early 2008 that Jesse did not die, but rather that he was kidnapped and that his abductors faked his death. After Jesse returns to Pine Valley and is revealed to be alive, he and his former wife, Angie, plan an extravagant wedding (since their marriage was dissolved when Jesse was declared dead). One of the invited wedding guests is Greg. Before the wedding (on May 20, 2008), they visit Jenny's grave and remember the good times spent with her. While alone, and with tears in his eyes, Greg says that he never stopped loving her. He places a single red rose at her
tombstone and walks away with his friends. Greg later gets shot at the wedding but survives.
Greg appeared on
Hayley Vaughan Santos
Hayley Vaughan is a fictional character from the American ABC soap opera, ''All My Children''. She was portrayed by actress Kelly Ripa from November 22, 1990 to December 18, 2002. Ripa returned to the role briefly for two episodes in January 2010 f ...
' documentary about Pine Valley on January 5, 2010 and spoke of his love for Jenny.
Reception and impact
The Museum of Broadcast Communications
The Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) is an American museum, the stated mission of which is "to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform and entertain through our archi ...
summarized the impact of
Agnes Nixon
Agnes Nixon ( Eckhardt; December 10, 1922 – September 28, 2016) was an American television writer and producer, and the creator of the ABC soap operas '' One Life to Live'', '' All My Children'', as well as '' Loving'' and its spin-off '' The ...
's Greg and Jenny love story:
The museum cites Nixon as "queen" of contemporary soap opera and notes that she is best known and most honored for introducing social issues into soap operas.
Greg and Jenny are considered to be one of the couple's that made up the core stories of ''All My Children'' for a few years. Columnist Lisa L. from TV Fan Online published an article about what makes supercouples, and used Greg and Jenny as a prime example. ''
Soap Opera Digest
''Soap Opera Digest'' is a weekly magazine covering American daytime soap operas. It features onscreen and offscreen news about the series, interviews with and articles about performers, storyline summaries and analysis, and related promotional in ...
'' took notice to the pairing back in the 1980s and still credits them today as one of soap opera's greatest love stories.
Actress Kim Delaney's decision to exit the show ''All My Children'' at the height of her popularity affected fans. Delaney's character was given what is considered "daytime drama's highest honor" when her character was killed off so that no other actress could be cast in the role.
Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...
School of Theatre commented on the Greg and Jenny story when mentioning actor Laurence Lau. The university stated, "Over the years Lau has appeared in guest starring roles in
prime time
Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
television series, including ''
Law & Order
''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise.
''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...
'', ''
Frasier
''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons. It premiered on September 16, 1993, and ended on May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey (screenwriter), Peter Case ...
'', ''
Diagnosis Murder
''Diagnosis: Murder'' is an American action-comedy-mystery-medical crime drama television series starring Dick Van Dyke as Dr. Mark Sloan, a medical doctor who solves crimes with the help of his son Steve, a homicide detective played by Van Dyk ...
,
Brimstone'', ''
Martial Law
Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory.
Use
Marti ...
'', and a ''
recurring role
A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who frequently appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in more than one episode, sometimes being the main foc ...
'' on the hit series ''
JAG''. Lau has also had long-term contract roles on the daytime series ''
One Life to Live
''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as a web series on Hulu and iTunes ...
'', ''
Another World'', and ''All My Children'', where he will always be remembered as one half of ''All My Children's'' most beloved high school super couple Greg and Jenny."
In 2008,
About.com
Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, l ...
noted the "lasting memory" of the couple:
See also
*
List of supercouples
This is a list of supercouples, fictional couples who have been titled supercouples by the media, usually with the addition of substantial fan support; they may have been referred to as ''power couples'' or ''dynamic duos'', and are often define ...
References
Further reading
*
*
{{All My Children characters
Nelson, Greg and Jenny
Soap opera supercouples
Nelson, Greg and Jenny
Nelson, Greg and Jenny