| JENNY SCHECTER
Played By: Mia Kirshner
Occupation: Writer; former waitress; former stripper, movie director.
Family: Ex-husband: Tim Haspel (swim coach); Mother: Sandy Ziskin; Step-father: Warren Ziskin.
Personality Type: Eccentric, but sweet; complex; determined.
L Word(s) That Best Describes Jenny: Liberated; L'enfant Terrible
Signature Look: Eclectic vintage pixie.
Endearing Trait(s): Loyalty to her best friend Shane.
Annoying Trait(s): Very emotionally fragile; tends to be a bit too honest; prone to fainting.
Strengths: Creative, brave; fluent in French; strong-minded.
Hangups: Having her privacy violated; deep-seated fear that she's just one of those people who doesn't deserve to be happy.
| ROMANTICALLY LINKED TO...  Tim Haspel How/where they met: According to Jenny's friend Annette, Tim and Jenny were sweethearts in college. About the relationship:Tim and Jenny's relationship was a case of opposites attracting, with athletically-minded Tim proving an interesting (if unlikely) match for the artistic and eccentric Jenny. With Tim being away constantly for his work coaching a university swim team, Jenny felt lost and unsure of what to do with herself in her new life in a sprawling metropolis like LA.
|  Marina Ferrer How/where they met: Jenny was introduced to Marina at Tina and Bette's sperm-donor party, not long after Jenny arrived in L.A. About the relationship:Marina was the very first woman Jenny would ever sleep with, opting to cheat on her longtime boyfriend Tim with her. Jenny immediately regretted it and yet couldn't stop herself or the affair, no matter how horrible it made her feel, because the exhilaration and intimacy she had with Marina were impossible to resist. Marina toyed with Jenny and Jenny ultimately broke things off with her after Marina casually broke the news to Jenny that she'd been another woman's partner for five years.
| Robin How/where they met: They met during a party at the Dinah Shore Weekend in Palm Springs. About the relationship:When a very inebriated Jenny was encouraged to call Marina at a party, Jenny lost her nerve and Robin came to her rescue. Robin was a very down-to-earth trapeze artist with a kind heart and the two of them took to each other immediately. When Marina discovered Robin's identity, she set out to chase after Robin, herself, making Jenny's relationship with Robin all the more complicated. Robin wanted to have a more serious relationship with Jenny than Jenny was ready for and so Jenny did her best to let Robin down gently.
| Gene Feinberg How/where they met: They met at the manatee exhibit at the aquarium, where Jenny was doing research for a story. About the relationship:Jenny's tryst with Gene was brief, but it lasted long enough for him to realize that she was just too gay to be his girlfriend. Try as he might, Gene just couldn't compete with Jenny's newfound fascination with and attraction to other women.
|  Carmen de la Pica Morales How/where they met: Jenny meets Carmen for the first time when she comes over to visit Shane the same day Shane moves into Jenny's place. About the relationship: Much like with Shane's short-lived fling with Carmen, Jenny's own flirtations with Carmen were marred by Carmen's openly manipulative ways. When Shane made it clear that she no longer wanted to have anything to do with Carmen, Carmen turned her attention to Jenny, instead. That way, she could stay close to Shane, just in case Shane changed her mind about wanting a relationship with Carmen. Jenny had high hopes that she could have something meaningful with Carmen and was genuinely crushed when she discovered and watched a videotape of Carmen saying hurtful things about her to Shane. Jenny broke things off with Carmen to preserve and protect her friendship with Shane, despite Carmen's insistance that she'd never said anything unkind about Jenny. Even after Carmen's two-faced behavior and cruel words, Jenny comforted Carmen when Shane left Carmen at the altar. | Moira Sweeney/Max Sweeney How/where they met: They met in Skokie, Illinois when Jenny was staying with her parents after an emotional breakdown. Moira drives with Jenny back to LA. About the relationship: Jenny was immediately drawn to Moira's sweet nature and soft-spoken ways and at Jenny's insistence, agreed to join her on a cross-country trip to Los Angeles. Moira, who had been working as an IT technician, had been planning the move for quite some time, but meeting Jenny was the motivation she needed to make it a reality. During her time in LA, Moira would meet Billie Blake, a flamboyant emcee Kit Porter had hired as the new general manager of the Planet. Under Billie's influence, Moira considered transitioning from female to male and, without a doctor's supervision, she began taking testosterone. Jenny was a constant source of support for Moira and even Max, when the overdoses of testosterone caused violent mood swings and stirred up virulent jealousy in him. Jenny gradually lost interest in Max once he started becoming more concerned with passing as a straight man and expressing prejudice against lesbians.
| How/Where they met: Niki auditioned to play the part of Jesse in Jenny's Lez Girls movie. Jenny didn't like Niki, saying that she didn't look like a writer, but more like a model who belonged on the cover of Maxim magazine. Jenny fought for actress Luchi Santis to be cast in the role of Jesse, but the producers of the movie had already hired Niki because she had another film that was set to open in theaters and she had 'heat' behind her.
Later in the episode, Niki runs into Jenny at SheBar and lets it slip that she's gay. She persuades Jenny to go somewhere more private so that they can talk. In a more secluded area of SheBar, Niki tells Jenny that she feels a connection to the character of Jesse, but Jenny tells Niki that she doesn't care if Niki is gay - that being gay isn't what is going to get her the role. Niki admits that she has already been cast in the role of Jesse by the producers, but that she would feel better about being cast if she knew that Jenny approved of her as Jesse.
About the relationship: Jenny wasn't immediately attracted to Niki -- in fact, Jenny disliked her, rolling her eyes and ignoring her on a few occasions. But Jenny slowly starts to warm up to the young actress, and in episode 505 they make love in Jenny's closet at the pot brownie party. Niki eventually tells Jenny that she loves her, which brings out the more vulnerable, sweet side of Jenny that was hidden behind her protective walls, characterized by her haughty, diva-like behavior.
Caught up in her fling with Niki, Jenny is oblivious to her assistant Adele's machinations. Adele shows the producers and Niki's agents the sex tape that Niki and Jenny made together when they went on the Subaru Pink Ride together. As a result, Jenny loses her job as the director of Lez Girls. Jenny immediately hurries to the set and begs Niki to leave with her. Niki's agent reminds Niki that she's under contract and Niki, suitably cowed, stays behind.
In the finale episode, we discover that Jenny hasn't been answering or returning any of Niki's phone calls. Talking with Tina, Jenny tells her that she feels that she couldn't be with someone who hid who they were the way that Niki does. She says to Tina that she feels people like that are 'pathetic'. At the Lez Girls wrap party, Jenny declares that she is madly in love with someone, and runs out to look for Niki, only to discover Shane having sex with Niki against a railing outside the venue. Jenny tells Shane that she has committed the "ultimate betrayal" and that she has "broken her heart". Jenny doesn't say a word to Niki or even so much as look at her, which only strengthens the argument that Jenny was not looking for Niki to forgive her, but to break things off with her properly and for good, face to face.
| OTHER "LINKS" FROM THE CHART:
- Nick Barashkov (one of Jenny's former professors)
- Claude Mondrian (French-Canadian freelance journalist)
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