Remember that old TV show Pretender?

[the_wildcard]

Well this was brought up in another thread, so I decided to relive some memories and do some research on this show.

Anybody else remember? You know, looking back, I have to say its plot was pretty unique.

Looks like not much of the actors have done anything significant since then. Although here's a bit of trivia. Andrea Parker was only 26 when the show aired in 1996. I guess that was a bit surprising since I thought she was much older.

 

[Daneel]

Old TV show? I wasn't aware stuff from the 90s was officially "old" now.

Anyway, yeah, I most certainly remember it. I have all four seasons on DVD, and to date, it remains the only series that my entire family would regularly watch together (yep, Saturday nights were pretty happenin' at Daneel's house!).

Yes, I'm pretty sure Miss Parker was supposed to be older than Andrea Parker was -- she was depicted as roughly the same age as Jarod (what with them knowing each other as children), and he was born, I think, circa 1960.

I have very fond memories of the show. Jared's weekly adventures, while a tad formulaic, were usually fun, as was seeing him experience for the first time all the things the rest of us take for granted (gotta love his constant use of Pez candy). The mysteries of the Center were often intriguing, although they were starting to wear a little thin by the end. The show was kind of suffering from the same problem as The X-Files, in that the continuing plot-lines were getting a bit too convoluted, and it seemed to me that the writers were probably making it up as they went along.

Oh, and I checked out what you wrote in the other thread where the show was mentioned:

Hmm I dunno abuot Pretender. NBC gave it alot of outs. Didn't it even have its own tv movie, that was like 2 hours long after show ended? So I don't considered it cancelled. It had a good amount of time to wrap things up.

Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a great show too.

It had two TV movies after NBC cancelled it, but they aired on the TNT network. I never got to see them until they came to DVD last year. The first one was okay, but the second was a tad ridiculous. It suffered from some of the same problems that the series had which I mentioned above, including a few implausible plot twists and a weird, out-of-place "prophecy" storyline. It irks me that the creators didn't use this time to give the series proper closure... I mean, they had to realize there was a good chance that these two movies were all they were going to get. There was still much left unresolved by the end of the second film, but on the plus side, at least it didn't end on a cliffhanger like the show did.

The creators have said that they have an idea for one final movie that would tie everything up, and all they need is the funding. TNT is apparently not interested, however, and I doubt any other network is either. So I doubt that we'll ever see a third film. But I can still hope...

 

[dru]

Had a big TV crush on Ms. Parker.

 

[ambessalion]

like i said in the other thread, i loved it...i watched it with my sister pretty much the whole run...that and profiler (though we lost on interest on it after Sam left...) but we've seen all the episodes and the movies too...

i was really annoyed that they never produced the final movie....i had read somewhere that it was supposed to be produced in 2006 but then no more updates on it....

 

[Scout101]

Quantum Leap 2, but without the gimmick that helped explain why he was doing it? Yep, remember enjoying it well enough, but it seemed a kind of obvious rip off of QL, even at the time.

If he was smart enough to do all these different things, how come he couldn't get away?

 

[John Picard]

Had a big TV crush on Ms. Parker.

Man, to this day she is still the hotness

Great show that I was disappointed to see canceled. The kid who played Jared, as a youth, is from Choctaw, Oklahoma.

 

[Thrall]

Had a big TV crush on Ms. Parker.

Man, to this day she is still the hotness

Great show that I was disappointed to see canceled. The kid who played Jared, as a youth, is from Choctaw, Oklahoma.

Never watched the show but I remember she had the sexiest voice I've ever heard.

I wonder if Jared ever tapped that.

 

[bigdaddy]

To be far people.

TNT bought the show after NBC canceled it, they were planning to continue the show but figured that would cost too much and it was better to just wrap the show up. I do not remember but the plan was for 3 or 4 movies, something happened so only 2 movies were made and we still have no ending. I don't think it was the creators fault. However it was their fualt that they made a second movie just to make Jarad into Jesus fucking Christ.

If someone was smart they would make a Sci-fi TV movie to close the whole thing up once and for all. There are supposed to be webisodes, but those were most likely canceled. I think 10 webisodes (to fill in the gaps) and then a 90 minute DVD movie would be awesome.

I also think if the show started 5 years or so later than it did, and put on TV at a normal day and time that it would be a huge hit.

And I agree, Ms. Parker is smoking!

 

[ambessalion]

Ms Parker was fun to look at but i didnt find her attractive personally....she was a major b---- plus her voice was too deep too....

i just wish the story had been finished even if it were a novel or even something online...i just want to find out if Jarod figures everything out...

 

[Jono]

TNT bought the show after NBC canceled it, they were planning to continue the show but figured that would cost too much and it was better to just wrap the show up. I do not remember but the plan was for 3 or 4 movies, something happened so only 2 movies were made and we still have no ending. I don't think it was the creators fault. However it was their fualt that they made a second movie just to make Jarad into Jesus fucking Christ.

I only caught that back in October and it was a bit of a trip with the whole prophesy stuff.

Enjoyed the show back when it first aired. Mr Parker was a sexy bitch, plus Andrea Parker looks good in Navy whites...

 

[Michael]

Boy, did I love The Pretender! I have nice memories of watching it with my mother all these years ago. I loved the tight continuity (an early arc-based show, IIRC) as well as the exceptional cast. Michael T. Weiss, Andrea Parker, Patrick Bauchau and Jon Gries were wonderful. The latter can actually be seen these days as Ben Linus' ill-fated father on Lost.

I wish they'd release the series on DVD in Germany. I'd buy it in an instant ...

 

[Valin]

Michael T. Weiss, Andrea Parker, Patrick Bauchau and Jon Gries were wonderful. The latter can actually be seen these days as Ben Linus' ill-fated father on Lost.

I thought he (Ben's father) looked familiar.

I always thought that Andrea Parker, if she could do a British accent, would have made the perfect Mrs. Peel in a remake of "The Avengers."

 

[Aragorn]

The Pretender reminded me a lot of Highlander, in that despite the great premise, the number of bad episodes outweighed the number of good episodes.

And even though Jarod is posing as a different character each week to help people out like Sam in Quantum Leap, the concept of helping new people out every episode using different aliases while on the run isn't exactly new. Incredible Hulk?

I did think the archive footage Jarod watched having different camera angles and cuts, and being filmed with "style" was rather silly.