“There are extraordinary individuals among us known as pretenders – geniuses with the ability to insinuate themselves into any walk of life, to literally become anyone.”
Jarod (Michael T. Weiss) was a pretender. A child prodigy, he had been taken from his parents at an early age and raised in a secret, fortress-like facility called “The Centre” at Blue Cove, Delaware, where his extraordinary mental capabilities were honed so that, eventually, they could be sold to the highest bidder.
But Jarod escaped and now he was on the run from the Centre’s heavily armed operatives, seeking to expose the Centre and find clues to his real background (he had been told his parents died in a plane crash but had they?)
Melting into society, he used his abilities and his enormous bank of knowledge to become many things – a doctor, a sea captain, an airline pilot – helping those he met along the way.
Hot on his heels was Miss Parker (Andrea Parker), an alluring but totally ruthless Centre assassin who was determined to eliminate this threat to her employer. But Jarod, smiling, always slipped away. In the second season, Miss Parker faced competition from another Centre team assigned to get Jarod – Brigitte (Pamela Gidley) and Mr Lyle (James Denton).
As seasons passed, secrets of the Centre and its denizens began to be revealed, sometimes in flashbacks, and Miss Parker began to learn more about her own dark past. Lyle, it turned out, was her twin brother; her long-missing father, Mr Parker (Harve Presnell), also turned up and in fact, it turned out he ran the Centre.
It also appeared that Miss Parker’s mother had been killed by Jarod’s father.
Additional clues came from Angelo (Paul Dillon), who was mentally ill due to unfortunate medical experiments performed on him as the Centre was trying to make him into a pretender.
Broots (Jon Gries) was the Centre’s computer genius; Raines (Richard Marcus), the evil doctor behind many of the Centre’s experiments (in later episodes, after an assassination attempt, he lurched around gasping air from a portable oxygen tank), and “sweepers,” the ruthless operatives who “cleaned up” the Centre’s dirty work in the field.
In the series finale Jarod and Miss Parker – who at times now worked together – learned new secrets about the intertwined lives of those in the Centre, many of whom seemed to be related, and Jarod was reunited with his father, Major Charles (George Lazenby).
In a follow-up TV movie aired on TNT in January 2001, Parker and Sydney discovered that Jarod had not escaped the Centre alone and that there were two other pretenders on the loose – Eddie (who was subsequently killed) and Alex (a psycho seeking vengeance on Jarod, who appeared to die at the end of the episode – although they never found his body).
Another TV movie on TNT in December 2001 found Jarod and Miss Parker trapped on a strange island, learning even more about their pasts.
Jarod
Michael T. Weiss Young Jarod
Ryan Merriman Younger Jarod
Jonathan Osser Little Jarod
Dennis Cruzado Miss Parker
Andrea Parker Young Miss Parker
Ashley Peldon Mr Parker
Harve Presnell Young Mr Parker
David Sawyer Dr Sydney Green
Patrick Bauchau Young Sydney
Alex Wexo Broots
Jon Gries Debbie Broots
Kelsey Mulrooney Dr William Raines
Richard Marcus Mr Bobby Lyle
James Denton Sam the Sweeper
Sam Ayers Willie the Sweeper
Willie Gault Angelo
Paul Dillon Young Angelo
Jake Lloyd Brigitte
Pamela Gidley Jarod’s Mother
Kim Myers Thomas Gates
Jason Brooks Mr Cox
Lenny von Dohlen Mr Fenigor
Keene Curtis Major Charles
George Lazenby Gar
Amir AboulEla Michelle Lucca Stamatis
Leigh Taylor-Young Nicholas Stamatis
Darren Kennedy Kyle
Jeffrey Donovan Young Kyle
Zachary Browne Dr Christine Brant
Katie Mitchell Zoe
Lisa Cerasoli Argyle
Leland Orser
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But Jarod escaped and now he was on the run from the Centre’s heavily armed operatives, seeking to expose the Centre and find clues to his real background (he had been told his parents died in a plane crash but had they?)
Additional clues came from Angelo (Paul Dillon), who was mentally ill due to unfortunate medical experiments performed on him as the Centre was trying to make him into a pretender.
