Any love for the tv show The Pretender?

Submitted by DonutHoles5 t3_10mb4ew in television

SPOILERS

Any love for the tv show The Pretender?

I saw all 4 seasons back in the day.

I don’t think the show was perfect because sometimes the writing didn’t always make sense (why did Miss Parker’s dad end up marrying the lady who tried to kill him).

Regardless, the show was a blast. Me and my family finished all 4 seasons plus the 2 movies.

Was really hoping they would wrap the show up someday. I read that they had an ending planned for the show. A graphic novel or something would be cool.

Supposedly they released a book but I heard it was just a reboot of the first episode.

Anyways, was hoping people could share their thoughts here.

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SpiritPaper t1_j623mll wrote

I watched this show as a kid, but I don't remember much anymore. I see it's on Prime, I might start watching it again.

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justan_other t1_j62qvrl wrote

Love watch old shows that I maybe missed the last season didn’t know prime had this so thanks

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dahak777 t1_j642qob wrote

ohh its on Prime.. I may have to take a look

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knarcissist t1_j62r6ht wrote

I totally forgot about this. I enjoyed it. For some reason, it reminds me of that show where a guy started getting a newspaper a day early and tried to help people.

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No-time-for-foolz t1_j635rn9 wrote

I came here to mention Early edition ! Ya beat me to it. There were a lot of 1 or 2 season sci Fi type shows in the late 90's that have kinda faded into obscurity. Andromeda, Dark Angel, Earth, final conflict to name a few

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redbone74 t1_j649pmp wrote

The first season of Andromeda is so good. The season finale was insane. It slowly faded into being the kevin Sorbo show though and the last few seasons are unwatchable.

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sadandshy t1_j65tx74 wrote

I still can't believe Andromeda had 5 seasons.

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ptfreak t1_j63lkvl wrote

That's not surprising because my parents watched both of these when they were on and i was a kid who like half paid attention, but the one thing I remember is that they did not call the shows by their proper name, they just said "Oh Jared is on tonight" or "there's an episode of Gary that we recorded".

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josephus1811 t1_j6mpehs wrote

which reminds me of Now and Again... which I remember enjoying

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NeoMyers t1_j623rlw wrote

Yes! Loved this show. Really enjoyed the concept. The theme song in seasons 2 and 3 was really good. It was part of a "double header" on Saturday nights on NBC with "The Profiler." They crossed over a couple of times, too.

John Gries (aka Uncle Rico or Roger "Workman" Linus) was on it before his Napoleon Dynamite days.

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smesch83 t1_j624x2k wrote

I liked it a lot, and Ms. Parker is still one of my favorite characters because the trauma and the pressure seem very... contemporary: she's a mood, and I think many people often feel like her.

I wasn't a fan of the individual jobs/"cases" in most episodes, and Jarod often felt a little creepy. I wish the show leaned into that a little stronger.

also, I wonder what happened to Michael T. Weiss, the actor: does he have some personal issues? plus, most people assume that he is queer, but I never read anything official.

completely random: Apple TV often has shows that fit the "Pretender" mood (geniuses, 60s retro stuff etc.: Hello Tomorrow, Severance, For All Mankind) and I would love to see what they would do with that concept.

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DonutHoles5 OP t1_j625mc1 wrote

Jarod was creepy? In what way?

That one episode where he made that prisoner give up his kidney for his son was beyond messed up. Usually Jarod never went that far.

Also it’s just a tv show but Jarod really put peoples lives at risk sometimes. Because he wanted them to feel how their victims felt. Taste of their own medicine.

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smesch83 t1_j626kel wrote

I think you answered your own question here, yes. that's what I found creepy. that... Batman-like "let's scare them straight" vigilantism shit.

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DonutHoles5 OP t1_j6278gp wrote

Yeah sometimes Jarod took it a little far. But not always.

A lot of times? Yeah. Always? No.

But yeah I mostly agree with you.

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Hollow_Rant t1_j623oe3 wrote

Jeez, I hadn't thought about this show in over 20 years.

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barriekansai t1_j62rg8f wrote

What ever happened to that guy, Michael T. Weiss. It's like he entered the Witness Protection Program or something, the way he disappeared.

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Shindo989 t1_j63baw5 wrote

Last thing I remember seeing him in was an episode of a burn notice, which is funny since Jeffry Donovan (the main actor in BN) played Jarrods brother in The Pretender

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CaviarTaco t1_j63difg wrote

I just went down a Wikipedia rabbit hole on the pretender because I’ve been rewatching burn notice, saw the pretender and started googling.

I think the pretender might be remembered better if it had a ending or at least revealed more of the back story.

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redbone74 t1_j64a559 wrote

Idk but my mom was obsessed with that guy.

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xmagie t1_j634rex wrote

I'm still mad we never got a proper ending.

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LostInCa45 t1_j62ihvs wrote

Great show. Watch is every few years.

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bernsteinschroeder t1_j62mt0w wrote

Great show. It's unfortunate that it's fallen out of the collective of good shows such that you rarely hear about it.

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TheIllusiveGuy t1_j62rsx5 wrote

The myth arc got a bit away from the show, but really enjoyed it overall.

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DonutHoles5 OP t1_j62ssrh wrote

Myth arc? What was that?

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TheIllusiveGuy t1_j62tci7 wrote

A myth arc is a genric term (coined by the X-Files) for a story arc that spans a show's entire series.

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MustrumRidcully0 t1_j62s62q wrote

I remember it, watched it a lot. I might have missed a few episodes, though. It had crossovers with Profiler, which otherwise wasn't that similar. Had also neat cast of antagonists, and a larger background plot. Though it did feel a bit like they were making it up as they went along.

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Complete_Entry t1_j637zbq wrote

They took the perfect "plot of the week" show and ruined it with a monomyth.

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DonutHoles5 OP t1_j638fjn wrote

What do you mean?

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Complete_Entry t1_j639yde wrote

They overly focused on the centre and the conspiracies.

Jared could slot into essentially any role, his only limit was that he eventually had to move on.

The initial premise was the best one, a Genius child is kidnapped by criminals who rent out his skills until he is strong enough to escape.

Burn Notice made a lot of the same mistakes The Pretender did. And Jeffrey Donovan was in both!

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SugarPlumCherry t1_j6hnleb wrote

I disagree with you. The Centre mysteries is what kept it going for me. Because at the end it is Jarod's character journey after he escaped a hellhole and how he regains his humanity and how he relates to the world that is important. There also needs to be some resolution to his inner life and turmoil.

You see that also in modern procedurals like Gray's anatomy or NCIS. Yes characters are in their job setting and are resolving those mysteries, but there is also plot B with an even more important task that is their personal problems that they are trying to resolve.

How many copy pasted aimless episodes would the show last if Jarod only did random pretends and not look for his family or work on cases where Centre destroyed someone's life because of his invention?

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Complete_Entry t1_j6homg2 wrote

I like the last part, him fixing things he unintentionally damaged.

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nigevellie t1_j63k9ym wrote

It was okay on TNT or whichever it broadcast on

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bollocks666 t1_j6229bh wrote

Extremely underrated. Jake lloyd was in it before phantom menace

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BitMadIsntIt t1_j639gt6 wrote

Loved that show - I think of it often whenever my career is getting me down.

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[deleted] t1_j63adp8 wrote

I pretty much just remember the main dude looking kind of like Bear Grylls, the premise of the show and... that's it. I know I watched some episodes, but it was one of those shows I never made a note to actually watch. It's weird how the title "The Pretender" still rings a bell though.

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Stirnlappenbasilisk t1_j63q4t5 wrote

I watched it as a kid with my parents. Had a crush on Ms. Parker.

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jon-on-the-spot t1_j63s4rf wrote

I watched it on Amazon the other day and 30 years later I still have a crush on Miss Parker.

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Dickpuncher_Dan t1_j63t0n2 wrote

Like The Hulk and Quantum Leap: gifted guy finds a new person in need every episode and apply their wholesome skills.

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ronearc t1_j649j0k wrote

The Pretender was great. I'd support a reboot...if they kept the tone more serious than light-hearted.

I do think the original show skewed a bit light-hearted in places, but there's a dearth of shows of that nature which tend more towards intensity, and a Pretender reboot would fill that gap nicely.

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Sudden_Panic_8503 t1_j66n2vt wrote

I remember a promo for a new episode where the voice over is asking, "Is he crazy? Or crazy like a fox!". I never watched the show, but that stuck in my head for some reason.

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broken_human t1_j63rtv1 wrote

Total cheese factor but loved it anyways. John Gries has made leaps and bounds since then.

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dahak777 t1_j6430vk wrote

I remember this from back in the day, for some reason I thought there was a season or 2 more than the 4. And i don't recall the movies at all. And for some reason I think I fell off around season 3

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dramboxf t1_j645no8 wrote

Miss Parker made my pants fit funny. God, she was gorgeous.

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EanaDeva t1_j64ijfj wrote

Loved that show! It was also the reason I wanted to buy a leather jacket 😆 Miss Parker looked so good in it. Looking back it had a lot of stuff that didn’t really make sense and/or fit with earlier story about the centre but it was great to see Jarod’s new job this time. Love when I see some of the actors in other shows/movies though I can never get used to Mr Lyle being a good guy in other things

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CaptainGilliam t1_j64s0xq wrote

I used to be a fan, bought the DVDs and all but the ending was disappointing, though not entirely unexpected, I guess?

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DonutHoles5 OP t1_j64u02j wrote

The show never fully ended.

After 4 seasons and 2 movies they still don’t wrap everything up.

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CaptainGilliam t1_j64xf8m wrote

They did, by going back to the beginning. Kind of a time loop. Which I found a bit frustrating.

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DonutHoles5 OP t1_j64xnh6 wrote

I think you’re in the wrong thread.

I think you have some other show in mind.

We’re talking about the tv show “The Pretender”.

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CaptainGilliam t1_j64y1x9 wrote

Funny thing you should mention this. So am I :)

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DonutHoles5 OP t1_j659861 wrote

Well what do u mean they went back to the beginning?

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CaptainGilliam t1_j65a5ad wrote

I don't remember well if they decided to forget everything they discovered about their past during the four seasons but they sure did resume the hunt for Jarod that was part of the premise of the series.

So it felt like a sort of giant reset button, to be more accurate.

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DonutHoles5 OP t1_j65b78j wrote

The show didn’t reset.

It just never fully ended and wrapped up. After the 2 movies we still didn’t have a lot of things answered even.

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CaptainGilliam t1_j65c0am wrote

Quoting Wikipedia:

> During one of Jarod and Ms. Parker's infrequent phone conversations, Ms. Parker expresses sympathy for Jarod and his mission, but sadly warns that she will continue to try and capture him.

Which is more or less what I remember.

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DonutHoles5 OP t1_j65ciqi wrote

They were always after Jarod since day 1.

I’ve seen the whole show so I know a lot about it.

Sadly, the wikis don’t have much information on little details of the show and stuff.

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SugarPlumCherry t1_j6hokjq wrote

Maybe, in the 2001 movie how they got back to Jarod escape and other pretenders when they previously established that the Jarod was the best of them all and that the children were phased out and Jarod was basically alone and isolated from the world with the exception to Sydney. And then suddenly there were others that Jarod socialized and worked with. That was weird.

And it is not like they didn't hit the reset button on every season premiere despite all the revelations only to put the players on the same positions all over again.

Also, no ending is also an ending. The only one we got. Nothing was resolved. All the characters stayed in their eternal limbo of doing the same thing over and over again. That can be like a time loop.

Jarod will eternally escape the Centre, Miss P will chase him (never leaving the place she hates), Sydney and Broots the same. There was not even a hint of a hope that these people can escape these destructive cycles and be remotely happy or away from that misery. Ant that can be ok, just look at how bleak was the OG Nikita.

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DonutHoles5 OP t1_j6jwlfv wrote

I dont agree with you because I saw what happened in the 2nd movie.

Believe me, I probably remember more about the show and the lore than you.

Like, you’re forgetting some important things.

The creators said they had an ending. They know how the show is supposed to end. But they haven’t told us what it was or done anything with it yet.

Some important things happened in the 2nd movie as well.

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sweetpeapickle t1_j652jzw wrote

Man, have not seen anyone mention this for quite a while. Then there's two of you asking about it in the span of a couple weeks. Everytime I watch ER & it gets to the part where Doug is dating Linda-I say Ms Parker! Weirdly it's her real name as well. Michael Weiss, I think back to when I watched DOOL & he played Michael Horton. Angelo pops up on Chicago Fire once in a while...like just this season.

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andrew_armstrong t1_j667v7o wrote

It was cheesy as hell but really quite watchable.

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buff_bobby t1_j6amu7s wrote

Yeah. I liked it back when it aired. It was one of those late 90s/early 2000s sci-fish shows that were pretty formulaic but had some fun twist. And an attractive female main cast member in a position of power.

7 Days had a guy who time travels one week into the past, The Invisible Man had... Um.. the invisible man. John Doe had the guy from Prison Break but as an amnesiac who knows everything (though noticeably half the stuff he says is wrong if you Google it). They all felt pretty similar and all got cancelled before their overarching mystery got solved.

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jadenedaj t1_j63czqd wrote

How would you imagine the show end? They capture him? He would just escape again. I can't remember the plot, was there something you wanted to see wrapped up?

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DonutHoles5 OP t1_j63e61n wrote

The show ended on a cliffhanger.

And even the 2 movies didn’t wrap everything up.

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jadenedaj t1_j67fw6f wrote

TIL there was two movies- Wikipedia says they wrapped up the cliff hanger at least-

Oh and I read that the two books explain some of the mysteries from the show, so at least there is that

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DonutHoles5 OP t1_j6a81t6 wrote

Im sure the 2 books dont wrap everything up totally tho.

I wish someone could pull that relevant information and put it on a wiki or something. Because I really dont want to read those 2 books.

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SugarPlumCherry t1_j6hoxc5 wrote

>Oh and I read that the two books explain some of the mysteries from the show, so at least there is that

There are books? Are they from the creators of the show or something akin to Star Trek Books?

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SugarPlumCherry t1_j6hmve9 wrote

So much love for the show!

I recently re-watched, and although I love the characters very much, the show went silly as the seasons progressed. It seemed to me that every season finale was even more ridiculous than the previous in an attempt to raise up the stakes, only to return to the status quo in the first episode of the next season.

It was a good show for it's time, but I think it would have played out differently if it was made today.

For example, it was procedural tv in the sense that every episode followed almost the same formula, with the exception of the finales where the vague overarching theme converged to be somehow resolved for that season. First season was fine to have Jarod discover the world and himself, after that, for me at least it became boring and I didn't care for it. I enjoyed more his pretends when it was about dirty Centre secrets, and I think the show suffered a lot not having those showed on screen, in stead of the umpteenth time Jarod saved some poor soul. We already saw that, we have established he is mostly a good person and why he does that. Can we please move on and have a more comprehensive story about his specialness and family he so desperately tries to find. Maybe even an open confrontation w/ Centre trying to sabotage their current evil doings.

Although, I love to watch procedurals from time to time (Grey's, NCISs etc.) I feel that a mystery/sci-fi show has no legs to stand on for that kind of format. Sooner or later you have to answer those mysteries you are hooking people in and to make things interesting an to have some sense. I don't know if the writers didn't know if they'll be renewed or what added to many rehashed plots or not, but the show definitely suffers from Chris Carter effect in the sense that by the end they were making $ up.

Plot holes just grew bigger. For example, in the first season we have that the blond lady knew Jarod and MPs mom from the convent and she helped his parents hide from the Center. And Jarod has a brother who was kidnapped too. Ok, that is believable. Maybe we can build from there. But no.

Then in season two we have the genetics lab from the late 50s/early 60s who knew how much Jarod's genes were important for the Centre to steal him and their parents needed fertility doctor to make him, and they kind of forgot that he had a brother who the Center also kidnapped because he was also special. How were two people who barely could have children able to pop two more after Jarod and for Center to find them and steal one of those too? Timeline is more confusing than Teen Wolf (and anybody who's watched that can confirm how vague Derek's age is and anything to the timeline of the past).

Not to mention even more plot holes and progressive ridiculousness of season 3, 4 finales and adding supernatural element out of nowhere.

I loved Jarod/Miss Parker dichotomy and most of the characters and that was the shows strong suit and the actors really did their job very well.

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DonutHoles5 OP t1_j6kht4u wrote

It wasn’t perfect, but man the show was a lot of fun.

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