The Pretender is a television series that originally ran on NBC for four seasons between 1996 and 1999. Inspired by serial impostors such as Ferdinand Waldo Demara, the series revolves around a character with a talent for such pretences bordering on the supernatural, who travels around the United States adopting various identities and aiding people in need of help, while evading agents of a sinister organisation that seeks to use his abilities for its own ends.

The series stars Michael T. Weiss as Jarod (the title character, whose surname is different in each episode) and Andrea Parker (Miss Parker), Patrick Bauchau (Sydney), Jon Gries (Broots) as the characters attempting to capture him. (Although Parker, Bauchau, and Gries were constant presences throughout the series, other members of the pursuit team came and went, notably Jamie Denton as Mr. Lyle, the show's most unambiguous villain.) Richard Marcus and Harve Presnell appear as their superiors at the Centre. Andrea Parker also plays Miss Parker's mother, Catherine Parker, in flashback scenes.

After the series was cancelled, it was picked up in syndication by Turner Network Television. Two telemovies based on the series, tying up loose ends in the ongoing plot, were aired on TNT in 2001, partly as a result of pressure from fans who staged a global email campaign to the so-called PTB. A third telemovie was promised, but has not eventuated as of 2004, despite further pressure from fans who feel that it is needed to tie up the loose ends created by the first two telemovies.

Reruns of The Pretender have aired and still air in many countries worldwide. The series is available on DVD in France (all seasons, movies announced) and Japan (season one). Fox Home Entertainment announced that the United States DVD release of the first season will be in March 2005.

External links

• The Pretender (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115320/) at the Internet Movie Database
• Campaign TPM: Third Pretender Movie (http://tpm.2ya.com)
• Frustrated Pretender Fans: Campaign HQ (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FrustratedTpFans)
• The Pretender Fans Messageboard (http://thepretender.proboards20.com)
• Centre for Pretender Fanatics Forum (http://tpfanatic.noonhost.com/)

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