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Season 1
Season
Episodes

1
21
Aired
September 19, 1996
- May 17, 1997
Premiere
Finale
The Dragon House
(Part 1 & 2)

The Pretender's Pilot episode premiered on September 19, 1996 in the United States on NBC . Twenty-one episodes were aired for Season One, with the season finale being a two-part episode. The Pretender: The Complete First Season DVD set was released on March 22nd, 2005 for Region 1. No other DVDs have been released for other DVD regions except Region 4.

Overview

Season one introduces Jarod (Michael T. Weiss), the boy-wonder, genius, now a mature adult with a moral compass that wins over any innate loyalty he has for his mentor, Sydney (Patrick Bauchau), who has trained him and honed his natural Pretender skills so he can literally become anyone he wants to be. We are also introduced to Miss Parker (played by Andrea Parker), leading the hunt and chase to retrieve The Centre's prized possession, aka Jarod. Miss Parker has a history with Jarod, the emotional ties of which she squelches at every turn in order to do her job. She is amazingly competent as the huntress on the trail of Jarod who does his fair share of running once Miss Parker catches up with him. Broots is the computer genius who is both impressed by Jarod's technical skills and scared of Miss Parker.

Jarod is on the hunt for his parents/family while helping others as a way to make compensation for The Centre's actions in abusing the results of his simulations while he was under their control. He gets very close to finding recent information on his family but Miss Parker literally shoots it from his hands. Along the way, Jarod experiences many things for the first time that he was deprived of while a prisoner of The Centre. He also has his first love affair.

We are introduced to Angelo the empath who is also used as a tool by the team to help track Jarod, and who we later find out, also has a history with both Jarod and Miss Parker. Other characters introduced in Season One are Mr. Raines (Richard Marcus), Catherine Parker (also played by Andrea Parker) as Miss Parker's mom, whose murder is an unsolved crime at The Centre that Miss Parker is determined to solve, and Mr. Parker (Harve Presnell) as Miss Parker's father and the one who helms The Centre. At the end of the season, we meet Jarod's brother Kyle (played byJeffrey Donovan) who was also at The Centre as a boy. Jarod and Kyle are briefly reunited however disaster strikes and it appears that Jarod has lost his brother for good.

Cast

Main characters

Recurring characters

Season 1: 1996-97

Ep.# Title Writer(s) (Story/Teleplay) Director(s) Original Airdate
1 Pilot Steven Long Mitchell & Craig W. Van Sickle Rick Wallace September 19, 1996
2 Every Picture Tells A Story Steven Long Mitchell & Craig W. Van Sickle Michael Zinberg September 28, 1996
3 Flyer Juan Carlos Coto James Whitmore, Jr. October 19, 1996
4 Curious Jarod Kimberly Costello Jesús Salvador Treviño October 26, 1996
5 The Paper Clock Javier Grillo-Marxauch Gabrielle Beaumont November 2, 1996
6 To Serve and Protect Tommy Thompson James Whitmore, Jr. November 9, 1996
7 A Virus Among Us Lawrence Meyers Fred Keller November 16, 1996
8 Not Even A Mouse Juan Carlos Coto Thomas J. Wright December 14, 1996
9 Mirage Tommy Thompson Ian Toynton January 4, 1997
10 The Better Part of Valor Javier Grillo-Marxuach Anson Williams January 11, 1997
11 Bomb Squad Javier Grillo-Marxuach Terrence O'Hara January 18, 1997
12 Prison Story Steven Long Mitchell & Craig W. Van Sickle & Tommy Thompson Oscar Costo February 1, 1997
13 Bazooka Jarod Juan Carlos Coto & Kimberly Costello James Whitmore, Jr. February 8, 1997
14 Ranger Jarod Steven Long Mitchell & Craig W. Van Sickle Ian Toynton February 15, 1997
15 Jaroldo! Lawrence Meyers Terrence O'Hara March 8, 1997
16 Under The Reds Lawrence Meyers, Javier Grillo-Marxuach & David Kemper Charles Siebert March 22, 1997
17 Keys Steven Long Mitchell & Craig W. Van Sickle Terrence O'Hara April 5, 1997
18 Unhappy Landings Terri Treas & Michael Zand
Juan Carlos Coto, Javier Grillo-Marxuach & Lawrence Meyers
James Whitmore, Jr. April 26, 1997
19 Jarod's Honor Tommy Thompson & Chris Ruppenthal Terrence O'Hara May 3, 1997
20 Baby Love Debra Pratt Joe Napolitano May 10. 1997
21
22
The Dragon House (Part 1)
The Dragon House (Part 2)
Steven Long Mitchell & Craig W. Van Sickle Fred K. Keller May 17, 1997


Previous season:
Pilot

Season 1
Next season:
Season 2
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