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The Pretender: The NBC Series Premiered 20 Years Ago (9/19/1996)

The Pretender TV series 20th anniversary. The Pretender TV show on NBC: canceled, no season 5.

The Pretender TV show premiered 20 years ago today. Starring Michael T. Weiss, as Jarod, the action-adventure drama, created by Steven Mitchell and Craig van Sickle, ran for four seasons before being cancelled in 2000, by NBC.

The series also starred: Andrea Parker, Patrick Bauchau, Jon Gries, Ryan Merriman, Richard Marcus, Alex Wexo, James Denton, Sam Ayers, Harve Presnell, Paul Dillon, Willie Gault, Dennis Cruzado, Pamela Gidley, Jason Brooks, and Ashley Peldon.

While very young, Jarod Russell was taken from his parents by a secret organization, and is raised by psychiatrist Dr. Sydney Green (Patrick Bauchau) at The Centre, where he is trained to be a “pretender” one who can seamlessly assume any profession or lifestyle.

Once training is complete, pretenders are sold to the highest bidder and are used for a number of nefarious purposes. As an adult, Jarod (Weiss) escapes the organization to search for his parents. His fellow pretenders — including assassin Miss Parker (Andrea Parker), as well as Brigitte (Pamela Gidley) and Bobby Lyle (James Denton) — try to track him down.

The Pretender ended on a cliffhanger in 2000. Due to fan protests, two follow-up TV movies aired on TNT in 2001, The Pretender: 2001 and The Pretender: Island of the Haunted. The creators have since published two novels, The Pretender: Rebirth, and The Pretender: Saving Luke.

Watch this fan-made trailer for the first season of The Pretender.

What do you think? Did you watch The Pretender TV series? Would you watch a reboot or a Pretender reunion movie or mini-series?


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