Articoli su The Pretender
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TV Guide: Actors Soapie Days Are Past 

Like sand through the hourglass, Michael T. Weiss' career has moved on. To such as extent, in fact that the actor who spent six years playing the popular Dr Michael Horton on Days of our lives doesn't like to discuss his role on the longrunning soapie. "That was 10 years ago and isn't really relevant to who I am now," he says, signalling the end to that topic. Involvement with the daytime soap may not be Michael's favourite subject, but the role did act as a springboard to "meatier" work, and eventually to his starring role as Jarod in the channel nine drama series The Pretender. The series, about a genius who uses his exceptional intelligence and chameleon-like qualities to act as a non-violent vigilante force for justice, is into it's third season and Weiss says he's happy with the direction the show is taking. "It's certainly the best season so far", he says. "We have some good new storylines and some of the episodes are a bit darker and more twisted. That means I get to develop the character a bit more and that's satisfying for me." Weiss is also philosophical about the nature of The Pretender's audience and the fact that it doesn't attract as many occasional viewers as some shows. "People are either indifferent to it or love it, which is okay. We're sure of a fourth season, which says something. What amazes me is that there are hundreds of web sites on the internet relating to the show. A lot of people are really into it."

Michael T. Weiss: a great pretender'

When he was growing up in Northbrook, Michael Weiss hung a sign over his bed that read: California. "I knew it was manifest destiny that I would end up there," he said. And so he did.
The star of NBC-TV's hit Saturday night drama The Pretender headed for drama school at the University of Southern California in 1980, immediately after graduating from Glenbrook North. He's never looked back. "I've been pretty lucky," Weiss said. "I've been working virtually nonstop since the day I graduated from college.

Commercial Kid

Weiss appeared in TV commercials as a child, but he did not focus on acting until his senior year in high school, when he studied improve and performed in a children's show at Second City. "I always knew I was going to be an actor," Weiss said. "The idea of playing make believe and getting paid for it seemed like a really good deal. I just put off thinking about how I was going to make it happen for as long as possible."
At USC, he studied stage acting, but that didn't make him turn up his nose at an early offer to appear on the daytime drama Days of Our Lives. He still stays active on stage with the Los Angeles ensemble company Met Theatre. In fact, he has recently completed writing a play, Streams of Consciousness, that he hopes to direct there. Yet most of his work for the last 15 years has been in TV and film.
In The Pretender, loosely based on the 1961 Tony Curtis film The Great Impostor, Weiss plays the enigmatic genious Jarod. Trained since childhood in a shady psychogenic research facility to assume any identity or profession, from doctor to race car driver, Jarod escapes from The Centre as and adult. He impersonates all manner of people - a policeman, an airplane pilot, a doctor, a lawyer, a stunt man - to evade agents of The Centre and, while he's at it, to oppose injustice and evildoers. "The opportunity to play a different character each week is not something an actor can turn down very easily," said Weiss, who recalled having some doubts about committing to a TV series in the beginning.

TV or not TV? 

He was skiing in Park City in 1995 when the producers of The Pretender contacted him. At the time, he had a featured role as a crack-smoking child molester in the twisted Red Riding Hood updaye Freeway, debuting at the Sundance Film Festival. The previous year, he had co-starred as a promicuous gay man with AIDS who attracts the celibate title character in the offbeat commedy Jeffrey. "They told me I was the only one who could play the role of Jarod, to be innocent and dark at the same time," Weiss recalled. "I'm still not entirely sure what to make of that."
Nevertheless, he's glad he took the role. After completing its third season, The Pretender has been picked up for syndication by Turner Network Television and renewed for another season by NBC. That sort of success means that Weiss, an avid environmentalist, can induldge himself in little ways. He recently ordered an electronic car from Toyota, for instance, which will allow him to commute back and forth to the studio without contributing to the LA smog.
The best thing about the deal, though, is that playing a TV hero actually broadens his range as an actor. As Jarod, he has the chance to explore a character who's considerably different from the alcoholic womanizer he plays in the upcoming independent film, Net Worth. "It's fun to play the freaky characters," Weiss said. "but it's also interesting being the good guy. I like to do it all."

No pretending here: NBC’s The Pretender is good fun

Ever get bored with your job? Jarod (Michael T. Weiss, Jeffrey, Freeway) doesn’t. He moves on, takes on a new identity, changes lives like a chameleon changes colors. He could be your doctor, your airline pilot, your priest or your dentist. He’s The Pretender.
As a young boy, Jarod was taken to a top-secret think-tank called The Centre. Kept against his will, isolated from life’s pleasures, without his true identity, he now faces the world for the first time. Having escaped the Centre’s confinements, he seeks to right today’s wrongs as atonement for his childhood experiments.
Like Hansel and Gretel, he leaves a trail of bread crumbs for his pursuers to follw, always a step away from capture.
Sidney (Patrick Bauchau, Clear and present danger, Earth 2), Jarod’s long-time companion and mentor has trouble deciding who’s side he should be on. Jarod must come back to The Centre, but at what cost?
The baddie comes in the form of the evil Miss Parker (played to beautiful blond hilt by Andrea Parker of JAG and ER) and she’ll use any means necessary to capture Jarod.
The plots are well-written, the cast is well-suited to their parts and consistently give good performances. The Pretender leads the viewer on a action-packed suspense-filled hour. Most notable is Michael T. Weiss as Jarod Russell. His dark, sinister looks contrast with Jarod’s angelic behaviour. His compassionate nature and intelligence will appeal to both men and women. Michael’s character beckons to leave the mundane behind and follow him on his ever changing adventures.

The Pretender

Surprisingly, The Pretender is the most entertaining and engaging program of NBC’s Saturday Night Thrillogy (Dark Skies, The pretender, Profiler). Michael T. Weiss stars as Jarod Russell, a genius whose exceptional intelligence allows him to master virtually any profession. At a early age Jarod was taken in by The Centre, a think-tank which used his intelligence to play out various identities. He was used to solve complex problems, test strategies, even examine the theories behind the deaths of JFK and Marilyn Monroe.
As an adult, Jarod fled The Centre and has become a non-violent vigilante force for justice. All the while Jarod searches for his true identity, while trying to stay two steps ahead of operatives from The Centre who desperately want him back.
The Pretender is equal parts The Fugitive and Quantum Leap. Each week Jarod assumes a new identity, righting wrongs for the powerless by turning the tables against those who have wronged them and seem beyond the reach of the law. One week he’s a member of the coast guard, the next a security manager for a casino or even a doctor. Meanwhile, Miss Parker (securitry officer for The Centre) and her operatives are hot on his trail. Like in The Fugitive, in every episode, as Jarod gets closer to discovering the truth, The Centre almost gets their pretender, but Jarod always manages outsmart or out-maneveur them to run for another day. One finds oneself wondering if this is another QM production. Each episode ends in a Quantum Leap moment with a visual zinger in which we see Jarod pretending in some wacky situation. In past episodes we have seen Jarod as an Indy car driver and a Canadian Mountie among other roles.
The Pretender is fairly light entertainment, popish, not overly cerebral, but fun. The series does have serious themes, but they are cut with humor. Jarod’s continuous wonderment as he discovers the outside world never lets the atmosphere get as dark and oppressive as a series such as Chris Carter’s Millennium. The series has real charm, inspite of the lead’s goofy looks and some of the cheesy gags the show sets up when Jarod discovers something we take totally for granted. Jarod’s wonderment at the sight of plastic dog doo was a bit much, but at other times seeing an adult view the world with unspoiled eyes can be quite refreshing.
At times the series gets too sappy and mopey. One gets tired of hearing Jarod whining “I don’t know who I am, Sidney”. However, the added sub plot surrounding the suicide of ice maiden Miss Parker’s mother at The Centre, as well as the fact that Parker and Jarod both knew each other growing up together at The Centre could turn out to be quite interesting. Stay tuned.

Living a Lie - A master of disguises joins this fall's hero list
(by Edward Gross, Cinescape Magazine, December 1996)

Jarod, the lead character in NBC's The Pretender, is this fall's man of a thousand faces, but he's far more than Artemus Gordon redux. This quick-change artist eschews makeup and accents in favor of actually becoming other people.Michael T. Weiss portrays Jarod, a genius who was taken as a child to the mysterious "Centre" and made to participate in a variety of scientific and military "exercises" that have some very grim results. Jarod has the power to get into the minds of others, and through that gift he is able to assume any identity he chooses. So if Jarod wants to be - not just imitate but be - a doctor, lawyer, priest, airline pilot or whatever, he simply has to flip through some mental crib notes and...presto-chango! In the premiere episode, we see him, as a child, re-enacting the assassination of President Kennedy and "becoming" Lee Harvey Oswald, simultaneously establishing that there was indeed a second shooter on that fateful day in Dallas.
In the series pilot, Jarod escapes from the Centre, consumed with guilt over the loss of life that can be attributed to the work he has done for his keepers. To repent, he decides to dedicate himself to helping people in need. Naturally, the Centre wants him back, and a mysterious Miss Parker is sent in pursuit, along with Jarod's "guardian," Sydney.
Co-creator Craig Van Sickle says that during the show's gestation he and partner Steven Long Mitchell heavily researched the phenomenon of "pretenders," focusing specifically on Ferdinand Demara, a real-life pretender who died in 1982 at the age of 60.
"Demara is the most famous pretender," says Van Sickle, "and we drew a lot from his history. That, more than anything else, served as an inspiration in part for the character - his exploits and some of the interesting worlds he went into."
Mitchell adds, "What's fascinating is that there are real people like this. It wasn't like we made up a superhero. Demara was, in fact, a surgeon - he read a book and became a surgeon and even taught surgery. He became a prison warden, a Trappist monk and a college professor. It was fascinating to us that someone could just walk in and do a difficult job in such a way as to convince everyone that he was very much as learned as the profession demanded. I think the most fascinating thing when we studied the psychology of "pretenders" was that they felt absolutely no anxiety."
Another source of inspiration for the series was a book titled "The Genius Project," which examined in detail the testing of preadolescent prodigies by the CIA during the 1950s and 1960s.
"In the morning," says Mitchell, "they'd play Tiddly Winks and in the afternoon it'd be, 'Now we're going to play Thermonuclear War.'"
The result of the producers' research is a protagonist who's unique in the history of episodic television. "Because pretenders can tune in to people - tune in to their weak points, their likes, their dislikes - we have an opportunity to have a character who gets to the answers in a different way from every other detective you've seen on TV," he says. "He tries to get into your head a little bit to have you help him with the answers."
For actor Michael T. Weiss, who co-starred in NBC's short-lived revival of Dark Shadows, the appeal of The Pretender is rather straightforward.
"It doesn't come along very often in the TV world that you get to play a different character every week," he says. "As an actor, that's probably one of the most exciting aspects of playing Jarod. It's like a dream role, so I'm particularly thrilled about that. I know I want to watch TV that's a little twisted, and I think a lot of America does now too."
Weiss got so into his role that during the shooting of the pilot he decided to try out a bit of pretending for himself. "I snuck into the New York Stock Exchange," he smiles sheepishly, "wearing their clothes, and pretended to be a trader on the floor and got right in. I have to admit, it's a lot of fun to be able to give yourself that kind of freedom. You can have a lot of fun, and that's what I plan on doing, though I know the role is a tough one."
One question critics had regarding the show was how tension could be built on a weekly premise when the premise features a character who can effortlessly immerse himself in any world.
"There are two parts of that," says Mitchell. "One, Jarod will not be invincible. He will have Achilles' heels, most of which will be emotional. He can be anyone, but he doesn't know who he is. In searching for his family, his emotions drive him. And his emotions drive him in a relationship with all the characters in the show. That's one thing that makes him different."

A Great Pretender - Idea came from a non-fiction book about CIA experiments with children geniuses

(by Steve Hall, The Indianapolis Star, July 28, 1996)

Pasadena, Calif. - When Craig W. Van Sickle was growing up in Indianapolis, his businessman father was frequently annoyed to find him in front of the TV set. "What are you ever gonna do with that?" he'd growl. The answer took a few years. Van Sickle, 38, and partner Steven Long Mitchell, 35, have written, produced and guided more than 100 hours of television, including such hits as Murder, She Wrote, Magnum, P.I. and Alien Nation. They've now created their own show, The Pretender, an unusual NBC drama airing at 9 p.m. Saturdays this fall on WTHR. Sort of a cross between The Fugitive and Touched by an angel, the series stars Michael T. Weiss as Jarod Russell, a former child prodigy able to successfully masquerade in almost any profession - policeman, doctor, lawyer, even airline pilot. On the run from a mysterious think tank that used his talents for nefarious purposes, nonviolent vigilante Jarod uses his skills to help the disenfranchised, discover his own secret background and pretend to know his way around some really cool jobs. For instance: "There's one show where we see Jarod strapping on a race helmet at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway," Van Sickle said gleefully. The sandy-haired Indiana University graduate, who has a 1979 degree in television and radio, religiously attends the Indianapolis 500 every year. While the idea of a total novice mastering the intricacies of an Indy car at 230 mph may seem farfetched, Van Sickle and Mitchell point to Ferdinand Demara, one of the great pretenders of history and an inspiration for Jarod's character. Demara successfully masqueraded as a doctor (who taught surgery to other doctors in the Canadian army and navy), a prison warden, a college professor and a Trappist monk by simply reading a few books and never breaking a sweat in each new profession. "Pretenders in general never feel any anxiety," Van Sickle explained during an interview at an NBC press party. "So they could walk into an operating room and be utterly cool cutting someone open for the first time." Van Sickle and Mitchell, who previously co-created and produced the action series Cobra with Stephen J. Cannell, got the idea for The Pretender from The Genius Project. The nonfiction book details how the CIA performed experiments with child prodigies in the 1950s and 1960s. "In the morning, the kids would play Tiddly Winks. In the afternoon the CIA types would say, 'Now we're going to play Thermonuclear War,"' said Mitchell, a New Orleans native and the more talkative of the duo. "Basically they exploited the kids' genius in role-playing, which was unencumbered by the jadedness of having grown up." The product of similar role playing, the childlike Jarod uses his pretending to right wrongs. He proves a drunken doctor was responsible for disabling a child during surgery - ensuring the child will receive millions of dollars from the hospital. It's a popular conceit. In advance audience testing, The Pretender pilot scored higher than NBC's ER, the most-watched show on TV now. Testing is admittedly an imprecise science. One recent example was the Hal Linden/Suzanne Pleshette sitcom The boys are back, one of CBS' highest-testing comedies ever, yet canceled after just four months in 1995 because of low viewership. Nonetheless, NBC is demonstrating its faith in The Pretender by premiering the show in ER's Thursday time slot Sept. 19 and then moving its to its regular time slot on Saturdays Sept. 28. It will air with two other similarly offbeat shows, Dark Skies (invading aliens have influenced recent U.S. history) and Profiler (ex-FBI agent is almost psychic at being able to see crime scenes from a killer's point of view). With this trio, NBC Entertainment President Warren Littlefield said the network hopes to capitalize on "the ooga-booga factor" - namely, viewer interest in conspiracy-themed, sometimes paranoid material stirred up by Fox Broadcasting's The X-Files. "Our Saturday night lineup sucked," Littlefield said in an interview. "Since we were fourth for the night, we really don't have anything to lose. All the networks are trying to do something different than the traditional medical or cop show, and The Pretender is the strongest of those properties." Van Sickle believes viewers will like the show because "at a time when no one wants to take responsibility for their actions - the O.J. Simpson trial was in the news when we were creating this show - this guy takes charge and fights for the underdog."

The Pretender
(by Tom Shales, The Washington Post, September 19, 1996)

Impostor? No. Poseur? No. Plain old fake? No, no, no. He's a pretender. Or rather, The Pretender, hero of NBC's new semi-sci-fi series, which normally will air Saturday nights at 9 but gets a special preview tonight at 10 on Channel 4. "There are extraordinary individuals among us known as pretenders," says the solemn prologue, "geniuses with the ability to insinuate themselves into any walk of life, to literally become anyone." And to literally split infinitives. The pretender in question is named Jarod and played sort of coquettishly by Michael T. Weiss. He has a wry smile bordering on a smirk as he pulls off his little deceptions and stays one step ahead of evil emissaries from the Centre, a think tank in Blue Cove, Del., that "isolated" Jarod as a child in 1963 and is very unhappy that he has escaped. When we first encounter the pretender, he has just abandoned ship in Anchorage, having posed as the captain of a tanker. No, not the Exxon Valdez. Then he's off to New York for the rest of the hour, becoming a doctor at Queen of Angels Hospital. While there, he exposes fraud, performs an emergency tracheotomy, cures a lovable old Greek woman of constipation (yes, really) and helps a little orphan boy, crippled in a bungled operation, sue the hospital for malpractice. "You're no doctor," says the Greek woman. "You are human being." Won't the doctors of America get a kick out of that one? Then, to spoil the fun, up pop Patrick Bauchau, as the head of the Centre, and henchwoman Andrea Parker. Even though the Centre wants Jarod back as a valuable investment, she orders him shot on sight! This kid's a little overzealous about her job. The chase aspect, however, gives The Pretender a portentous urgency so that our hero isn't just casually hopping from role to role. Also, he's on a lifelong mission to find his real parents, and so on and so forth. Whether The Pretender will last enough weeks for all these things to happen remains to be seen. It's kind of a cute little novelty item, a cross between Highway to Heaven and The Fugitive, and while it's basically easy to take, it's just as easy to avoid.

New York Vue, 'In Focus': Content to Pretend
(by Richard Huff, copyright The Daily News, December 14, 1996)

Imagine, if you will, a television role in which the lead actor gets to play a variety of parts within the same show. For many actors, that scenario is nothing more than fantasy. But for Michael T. Weiss it's a reality. As Jarod Russell on NBC's The Pretender (Saturday, 9 p.m.), Weiss plays a genius who can master virtually any skill. He uses that talent to become a one-man force for justice. "He's a fascinating character," Weiss says. "People are always wanting to reinvent themselves. We do get locked into what we think we are. He's also a hero, and people all wish they were heroes." In the series, Jarod was taken from his parents as a kid and spent decades in isolation under the care of the Centre, a think tank that sold the boy's mental services to the highest bidder. Now an adult, Jarod has fled the Centre and battles those who seem to be above the law. "It's amazing the amount of characters I've played so far: a doctor, a lawyer, a virologist, a coroner, a police officer, a cowboy, a race car driver, an orchestra leader," says Weiss. "I'm having a great time. It's been a lot of fun." Weiss broke into acting as a kid doing local commercials in his hometown of Chicago. In 1984 he took the role of Dr. Mike Horton on NBC's Days of Our Lives. He left the program six years later - "Thank God, I left when I did" - to pursue film and television work. Since then he has co-starred in NBC's 1991 remake of Dark Shadows, CBS' short-lived 1992 drama 2000 Malibu Road and in a handful of made-for-television movies. Away from the small screen, he has played a promiscuous homosexual in the film Jeffrey and starred in the recently released film Freeway. "I kinda broke away from television," Weiss says. "I've sorta been working in the film world. I've done some great independent films." Weiss says he likes the variety of roles available in the movie world, and has focused his attention there. "In television, you kind of get known as your character," he says. "In film, you get known as an actor." Weiss fully intends to take on movie roles during the series' hiatus periods despite his time-consuming ties to The Pretender. The workload for the lead actor on an hour-long drama is grueling, with 12-hour days considered to be on the short side. But Weiss isn't complaining. "You've got to love what you do as an artist or you go insane," he says. He's also not willing to get caught up in the hype of being on a well-received program on the top-rated network. "I lost all the pressure of being an actor years ago when I realized that nothing is secure," he says. "I've been in a couple of series that were supposed to be the biggest hits of the year that weren't. I go with the flow. I found it's much easier to proceed in this business that way." When not working on The Pretender, Weiss doesn't have much time for hobbies, although he does spend time writing. He recently completed a play, Streams of Consciousness, and would like to do more. He admits that being on The Pretender has created opportunities for future work, although he's not letting it go to his head. "I have a really incredible family," he says. "And a great group of friends who keep me sane. It's difficult to stay sane in the '90s."

A Pretender - Actress savors playing mean in NBC drama
(by Lon Grahnke, The Chicago Sun-Times, January 24, 1997) 

Andrea Parker pretends to be wicked in The Pretender. Co-starring as the dangerous and mysterious Miss Parker, the real Parker previously appeared as strong recurring characters in ER (playing the pharmaceuticals sales rep who had an affair with Dr. Doug Ross) and JAG (as Lt. Kate Pike, an assertive Navy lawyer). With her enigmatic Pretender role, Parker has emerged as a complicated villain who hides her vulnerability behind an aggressive manner and exotic style. Miss Parker, who never uses her first name, strides through NBC's Saturday suspense thriller like a darker, meaner, 1997 variation of Diana Rigg's Emma Peel in The Avengers. The chain-smoking femme fatale - let's call her Miss P to avoid confusion - is "so much of what I'm not," said Parker, a former ballet dancer who left her California home at 15 to be a performer. "She's demanding, gutsy and sarcastic. She loves power and control. "I'm a chicken," claimed the actress and skeet shooter, who also trains as a precision stunt driver. Parker said she felt a sense of "synchronicity" and "destiny" when she read the pilot teleplay for The Pretender and saw her name throughout the script. "I don't want to play myself," the former model and bartender said last week during a phone interview. "It's so much fun to be a witch! It's cathartic. I would never treat people the way she does." The Pretender premiered in September, and the solid series has raised NBC's Saturday ratings from 8 to 9 p.m. this season. (This week's episode will air at 7 p.m. Saturday on Channel 5)."It's working so far," Parker said. "This is the longest commitment I've had with a character. It's a turn-on to play someone so strange and twisted. I do most of my own stunts and action sequences. I run down stairs in 6-inch heels." Miss P's ongoing mission is to capture Jarod, a genius trained to master any situation. The Centre - a Delaware-based think tank with corporate and military clients - isolated Jarod as a boy, developed his pretender skills, exploited his talent and lied to him for sinister purposes. Now an adult with a grudge, Jarod (played by Michael T. Weiss) has defied his keepers and escaped from the Centre, determined to redeem himself. A charming avenger, he brings justice to victims harmed by powerful organizations and individuals. For the first time in his life, he's free to roam alone. As a pretender, Jarod can step into any job or profession and thrive. He has posed as a surgeon, jet pilot and firefighter, changing identities in each new episode. Miss P, an elite Centre operative, has personal motives for pursuing Jarod. "He's the only one who knows her first name," Parker said. "They grew up together in the Centre. They shared their first kiss when they were 9 or 10. We learn about their early relationship through flashbacks. Now he's a fugitive, and that throws her sense of control out of balance. The Pretender team doesn't know if NBC will renew the series for a second season. The show deserves to return. "I'm not concerned," Parker said. "I'm at the beginning of my career. I'm happier than ever with my life. I get to kick ass all day long."

When Pretending Pays Off
(by Eirik Knutzen, The Morning Call, February 2, 1997) 

A very close friend of Michael T. Weiss' mother (a successful career homemaker) in one of Chicago's sprawling suburbs happens to be a talent agent. When Michael was 12 years old, the friend asked if he'd like to do a television commercial. It sounded like a real goof-off to young Weiss, who was thrilled to discover that doing a television aid for Pop Tarts breakfast food also paid a healthy chunk of change. He went on to crank out a handful of national commercials, but didn't take the craft seriously until his senior year at Glenbrook North High School. At the age of 16, he was hired for one day as "atmosphere," meaning a background extra, on Ordinary People, the 1980 blockbuster feature that earned Robert Redford an Academy Award for best director. "I was standing way back in a scene and earned $ 30 for the effort," Weiss recalls. "It was my first and last experience as "atmosphere," but I have tremendous compassion for those who do it. It's a hard job." Twenty years later, Weiss was properly introduced to Redford at the famed actor-director-producer's Sundance Film Festival, where Weiss was featured with Kiefer Sutherland and Amanda Plummer as a drug-addicted pervert in Freeway, an independent film produced by Oliver Stone. "I didn't get to ski with Bob in Utah, but we did have a nice little chat," Weiss laughs. Since meeting with the Sundance Kid's alter ego - which has had zero impact on his career - the dark and solidly built 34-year-old actor has become the star of The Pretender, part of NBC's Saturday night chiller-trilogy. The dramatic suspense series revolves around Jarod Russell, a one-man crusader for justice while relentlessly stalked by cold-blooded agents from a clandestine U. S. government organization known only as The Centre. Jarod Russell, a genius ripped away from his parents at an early age, spent decades in splendid isolation being tutored by Sydney (Patrick Buchau) - a psychiatrist at the think tank-like Centre who sold the service of the boy's super-logical mind to the highest bidder. Now an adult on the loose, Russell uses his unique computer-like mind to assume the identities of doctors, airline pilots, nuclear engineers, fire chiefs and master plumbers to evade the terminally sexy Ms. Parker (Andrea Parker) and her legion of Centre operatives. "I've been having a great run with independent feature films during the past few years, but I couldn't resist The Pretender because it allows me to play several different characters every week," Weiss explains. "Jarod is the intellectual opposite of Peter Sellers' character in Being There, but he is just as innocent. He has no real world experience either, but was raised on pure intellect in a totally dysfunctional environment." The pilot for The Pretender was filmed in Toronto, but the subsequent episodes have all been shot in and around Los Angeles. There were times when Weiss wished he was back in Toronto, particularly during August location work in California's vast Mojave Desert where the cast and crew braved temperatures hovering around 125 F. degrees for three days. It made the dry-witted actor appreciate his crew and extras all the more. "It was so hot and awful that you either get cranky or forge a camaraderie under duress, leading to a kind of slap-happy atmosphere," Weiss chuckles. "I work with wonderful people so we tried to have a good time and find a local bar the moment we wrapped for the day. But I always felt sorry for the crew because I'd sit in an air-conditioned trailer, breeze in for a scene and then hurry back to my cool dressing room while they worked their butts off." In stark contrast to his screwed-up and guilt-ridden TV character, Weiss enjoyed a solid childhood on the fringes of Chicago provided by his "loving, lovely mother" and "a dad who is pure American." In the steel business, his father "bends steel with his bare hands and is the coolest dad in the plant." Close to his two siblings, he has one sister who's a make-up artist in the film industry and another, an advertising executive for the giant Sears retail chain. Acting became "like a calling" during his teen-age years, and for no apparent reason, according to Weiss. "It's like... what I do," he says, uncharacteristically fumbling for words. "It's kind of a crazy way to make a living, and certainly not the healthiest way of making a living, but here I am. Everything is cool as long as I remember why I got into the business in the first place: to enjoy my work." As resourceful as his Pretender character, Weiss worked with Chicago's famed Second City improvisational workshop as a prep student and subsequently enrolled in the University of Southern California's very expensive school of drama along with classmates Ally Sheedy, Forrest Whitaker, Eric Stoltz and Anthony Edwards. He helped pay his exhorbitant tuition as a personal fitness trainer to the stars, including skinny "Remington Steele"-007 star Pierce Brosnan. Weiss spent about a year in limbo after earning a bachelor of fine arts degree from USC in 1984. His life changed suddenly when he was cast as Dr. Mike Horton on the daytime soap Days of Our Lives. A supposedly brief stint stretched into five years. Unfulfilled, he walked off the sudser when his contract was up and stumbled into his first short-lived prime-time series Dark Shadows in 1991, a revival of the 1960s daytime vampire yarn. Some 13 draining episodes later, he popped into a half-dozen episodes on Aaron Spelling's ill-fated glitz series 2000 Malibu Road in 1992 with Drew Barrymore, Lisa Hartman and Jennifer Beals. Since then, his film credits include a strong performance in the independent feature Jeffrey as a promiscuous gay man totally obsessed with the title character. Single and unwilling to disclose the name and occupation of his girlfriend, Weiss makes his home in Los Angeles while traveling to exotic locations between projects. Shortly before reporting to the set of The Pretender, the board member for the environmentalist Earth Communications Office took an educational tour up the Amazon River to Manaus, Brazil. "It was an amazing experience," he says in awed tones. "Without sounding like a rain forest guru, I felt the energy of the people and the earth in a vast, fertile place on Earth that's being destroyed. It's quite distressing."

Real Miss Parker Is No Queen Of Mean To Young Cancer Patients
(from NBC Peacock Buzz, November 13, 1997) 

Andrea Parker of NBC's The Pretender volunteers to Counsel Afflicted Teens as Part of Charity. It's only coincidental that Andrea Parker portrays icy Miss Parker - poster girl for women with attitude - on NBC's The Pretender (Saturdays, 8-9 p.m. ET), but while most viewers recoil from her sleek, bad-to-the-bone character, a few cancer-afflicted teens see another Miss Parker off-camera, one who has provided love and caring friendship during their uphill battle. Quietly, Parker has dedicated much of her free time during the past two years in corresponding with and mentoring child and teenaged cancer patients as part of her affiliation with the Glenn Siegel "My Good Friend" charity organization. Named for and inspired by the young man whose goal, before he succumbed to brain cancer, was to make life easier for his fellow pediatric cancer patients, the national charity is now run by his parents, Barbara and Marv Siegel. "I first heard about this group while guest-starring on an episode of NBC's JAG, when I found some information in my dressing room trailer," says Parker. "Fifteen minutes later, I was moved to tears because there was so much passion in their mission." Parker called Marv Siegel and volunteered to join the non-profit charity's efforts to pair entertainment and sports celebrities with some of the young patients. She shared several phone chats with various teens, and helped to uplift their spirits simply by showing that someone cared, and eventually became a buddy. After more time passed, she developed a special relationship with Sabrina, a Virginia teen, and at last flew there to meet her new pal last summer. "The experience was overwhelming," recalls Parker. "It was so positive for everyone that we feel like family now. She has taught me a lot about strength and love and not giving up. She's a smart and passionate young woman who is a survivor. "Since then, Sabrina writes me letters in code to see what's up on the show. The sad thing is that she really understands the pain behind the fictional Miss Parker's anger. She's even writing a script for The Pretender. Parker wants to make it clear that her primary mission is to offer support for her youthful charges, not derive any false sense of self- satisfaction. "I'm not here to get anything out of this; I just hope to relieve some pain, give love, and offer a hand to those who need it. I want to let them know that they are valued. I'm troubled by the randomness of life, where some are blessed while others are burdened. I hope if I were going through something like this, I would know that no one can do it alone. Some kids get love at home, others don't. There's got to be someone there to help. "One of the good things about being an actor in Hollywood is that you're in a position to remind other people that there are still others who need help. It's the ultimate gratification - it's why we were put on this earth." Parker admits that the dubious notoriety of her well-coifed, stiletto- heeled character often precedes her when dealing with adults who spy her in public. But not so with her "good friends." "Adults say with relief, "h god, you're not really like Miss Parker."Every time someone says that, I'm really flattered. They think I'm a witch, and then learn I'm not. That's totally cool! But kids understand more so than adults that what they see is just pretend - if you'll excuse the pun. They haven't lost their innocence." Presently, Parker keeps busy away from the set by visiting and signing autographs for children at local Los Angeles hospitals, as well as maintaining her relationships with her phone and pen pals. In the meantime, she knows the value of perpetuating the myth of the fictitious Miss Parker. "I suggest to people I meet on the street to tell their friends that I was vicious in person," she says, with an evil twinkle. "They might as well make up a big, fat, juicy story and say that I was nasty. That often makes a better story!" Fortunately, many young cancer survivors know better.

Michael T. Weiss
(by Jon Abbot, Dreamwatch, November 1997) 

The pretender is Jarod Russell, a former child prodigy exploited from birth by a sinister group known as The Centre, a thinktank working for a private corporation that intends to use Russell for its own dark purposes. Now an adult, Russell realises there's a big world out there offering alternative attitudes to The Centre, and that he's been used for highly unethical and evil actions around the world.
Breaking out, he is pursued by corporation executive Miss Parker and his teacher Doctor Green, using his chameleon-like talents to outwit them each week while righting wrongs as some sort of penance for the misery he unwittingly wrought as a pawn of The Centre.
The villain of the piece is the enigmatic Miss Parker, played by Andrea Parker. As unique as it is to have Russell's pursuer an attractive woman, the advantage is lost, as the villain Parker initially is a campy young version of Cruella DeVille, a one-dimensional vamp whose sexuality comes from the comic-book attractiveness of the actress, although later developments reveal a closer connection to the mysterious corporation than first is apparent.
Patrick Bauchau's Green is the closest the series comes to a three-dimensional character and a bit of an enigma. On the one hand he's a dear old father figure who smiles wryly to himself every time his pupil outwits the wicked corporation. On the other hand, he's been working for this bunch since Jarod (and Parker) were kids, so what's he up to, or what have they got on him?
If he's subverting The Centre from within, he's taking an awful long time to bring it down. And if he's a loyal employee, why does he got so much pleasure from seeing Parker fail to recapture Jarod each week? He's either a self-deluding twit, or not as pleasure as he thinks he is series star Michael T Weiss seen in the short-lived Dark Shadows revival, claims the character and series are 'a little twisted', but in fact the influences are very traditional, and the employment of them conventional. The central premise - the pursuer and the pursued - has turned up in one form or another ever since The Fugitive. Like Richard Kimble, Jarod has a different job each week in a different locale, and can only stay long enough to help someone out before the net starts closing again.
There is a distinct touch of Quantum Leap here - The Pretender also takes on other people's identities (Quantum Leap's Tommy Thompson is co-executive producer), but while Sam occupied bodies, Jarod occupies jobs.
Both politics and characterisation are straight out of comics (we know Parker is wicked because the direction makes a big deal out of the fact that she smokes!). Corporations, military, the law, old guys in suits: Evil. Powerless little people, especially if elderly, poor. Female or blue collar: Good.
We are offered no shading or depth, no characterisation or motivations of everybody are simply assumed as a given, their rule in society defined by a child-like visual shorthand. In The Pretender, nobody else is pretending: everybody is exactly what they seem to be.
This can partly be explained by the background of creators and Steven Long Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle. After starting on The Love Boat, they learned their craft on Murder, She Wrote and its short-lived spin-off. Then they worked, as story editors on Ken Johnson's Alien Nation, a labour of love for all concerned, and moved on to become producers on The Flash.
Wanting to learn more about the "nuts and bolts" of production, they joined Stephen J Cannell Productions, and worked on Street Justice and Cobra. All of these series deal in the same set of absolutes as The Pretender, but also serve to point up its tailings.
In Alien Nation Ken Johnson demonstrated an extraordinarily strong understanding of the nature and form of racism and examined its causes beyond simple images of black and white portraits of good guys and bad, while Cannell's presentation of the same simplistic political landscape of The Pretender has always been presented with a playful, knowing wink and a nudge. Mitchell and Van Sickle have learned the form, but not the content. The Pretender is shamelessly formulaic without a hint of irony.
What is tough to reconcile in The Pretender is that thanks to Sydney's teaching and Jarod's sponge-like brain, Jarod is clever enough to transform himself effortlessly into an aircraft pilot or surgeon, but has to have things like ice cream explained to him because he's never encountered it before.
Obviously, the writers are playing the stranger-in-a-strange-land card, but it doesn't work. If ice cream is so fascinating, how come he can figure out how to fly a plane so quickly? Deliberate anomalies are part of the show's quaint appeal to the audience, but come across as awkward contrivances nonetheless.
Weiss is a likeable enough hero, a sort of George Clooney lookalike appealing to the female audience. Whether he, and the series' one plot, can carry this highly professional piece of paint-by-numbers TV through four or five seasons remains to be seen, but if Scott Bakula could get away with it, there seems to be no reason why Weiss shouldn't.

Ultimate role playing the ultimate actor
(Soap Opera Digest, May 6, 1998) 

Jarod the fugitive genius, central character of the suspense series The Pretender, is a master of illusion and evasion.
The actor who plays him, Michael T. Weiss, is almost as hard to pin down. On a day doing interviews for the show in New York, Weiss is on the phone and - judging by the laughs which accompany his more cryptic replies - ready to have a bit of sport.
His character in the show is the ultimate actor, a man who can instantly master any subject and assume any identity. Does Weiss ever play Jarod in real life, using his acting skills to masquerade as someone else? "We all like to pretend we're somebody we're not" he says. "I think we all do that every day." As a child prodigy, Jarod was kidnapped by the evil corporation which trained him and then exploited his gifts. Now he's on the run, dodging his pursers and working as an enigmatic force for good. Playing a genius must have its demands.
How does Weiss wind down from the stress of portraying a man of uncanny intuition and giant brain? "Kick the dog, throw the furniture around, trash my hotel room in New York," he offers before setting the record straight. "No, I'm kidding." Still people must constantly ask about his IQ. "People would never believe how big my IQ is, so I just don't even like to talk about it, it's just too brilliant."
Jarod may be clever but all he really wants is to find his mom and dad. Family is important, the Chicago-born Weiss agress. Does he have kids himself? "No" A partner? "Depends on which day of the week you ask."
How old is he, I wonder, going for another personal fact while we're on a roll. "Twenty, twenty-one," he tries. "You laugh? That's not very nice." Ask him about the appeal of the show, however, and the former soap actor (Dr. Mike Horton on Days of our Lives) gets serious. "Jarod doesn't feel limited by anything, the limitlessness of what he can do is very exciting for people."
As well as his part on the soap, Weiss' CV includes roles in the movie Jeffrey and Oliver Stone's Freeway. He has also written plays and is creating a television-series pilot.
"The attraction of the role of Jarod," he explains, "was the scope of the character who assumes a different identity every week." And in terms of his career, he acknowledges it's given him a break. "I figured even when you're working as an actor it's a break, but to be able to do something you're proud of is an even bigger break. And I made the right choice, I lucked out. When I did the pilot I never expected it to go for as long as it has." The Pretender is well into its third season in the States. Here, it's just started. "The show's changed so much since then," he says. For starters Jarod no longer has that short haircut - designed to "make him look just a little dorky" - subject of many love-hate comments from fans. "And it's much edgier and darker and a little more adult in theme.
Watch too for the developing relationship between him and deliciously maleviolent high-heeled huntress, Miss Parker. "I think there is a lot of sex tension and unresolved feelings."
But who does he think is the bigger star of the show, himself or Miss Parker's impressive legs? The jocular Weiss has no trouble with this one: "I think her legs, I can't even compare." You could be tempted to believe him, but remember this guy is The Pretender.

Actor beats series tedium - and baddies under new ID each week
(by Bob Thomas, Associated Press Writer) 

Los Angeles - Is it an actor's dream to play a different character in each episode of a television series? Or is it a nightmare? For Michael T. Weiss of The Pretender, at least, it couldn't be more of a blessing. He has known the tedium of playing the same character day after day, week after week for six years as Dr. Mike Horton on the long-running soap Days of Our Lives. The Pretender, which earlier this month won a renewal for its second season on NBC, has one of those far-out premises that seem to work for TV audiences. Jarod Russell was a prodigy who was taken from his parents and trained to be a supermind at a shadowy think tank, The Centre. The adult Jarod - Weiss, natch - escapes from The Centre and hides from his pursuing master by assuming new identities. As a doctor, lawyer, airline pilot, whatever, he seeks justice for those who have been wronged.
Having been misused by the infamous Centre, he can tell the victims, “I feel your pain.” That feeling is enhanced by a relentless pursuit of Jarod each week by operatives of The Centre. But, just ahead of capture, he turns the tables on evildoers seemingly beyond the law (does this sound like The Fugitive serving as a one-man Mission: Impossible?). Even though The Pretender had been performing adeguately in its time slot of 9 p.m. EDT Saturdays, Weiss wasn't certain of a second-season pickup.
"In the world of entertainment, there's never a sure thing," he said warily. "Any gift you get along the pike is great. I think next year we're going to push the envelope a little more than we did this year,'' he said. "I think the season will be edgier and darker." There's no concern about running out of jobs or professions. “To Jarod,” he noted, “every world is exciting.”
The series has proved an education for Weiss as well. "I try to have an expert in each field on every show. Of course, being a genius helps. I.Q. off the map - that's why they hired me," Weiss explained, completely deadpan.
Like John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, Chris O'Donnell and so many other current stars, Michael T. Weiss is a Chicagoan. He started his career as a child in TV commercials, and studied at the Second City workshop in high school. He came to Los Angeles in 1980. “When I was a kid, I used to have a sign in my room that said California”, he said. "It was like manifest destiny. I knew I was going to end up there. I had some lean years. Macaroni and cheese became my best friends. But I was like Jarod - I was very innovative, had many professions. I was a private trainer. I worked in an electronics store, in a zipper factory. I did anything to make money."
Meanwhile, he enrolled as a drama student at the University of Southern California, where he graduated along with Ally Sheedy, Anthony Edwards and Forrest Whitaker. His first break came in 1984 with Days of Our Lives. In prime time, he appeared in two short-lived series - Dark Shadows and 2000 Malibu Road - and such TV movies as The great Los Angeles earthquake and Take my daughter, please. Weiss also has delved in the independent movie world with Jeffrey and Freeway. If The Pretender has legs, as they say in the trade, Weiss wouldn't mind a long run. "The interesting thing about my character is that Jarod is innocent,'' he said. "So he's learning. I think as the show gets older and Jarod gets older, he's going to become less innocent. He'll become a little cynical and look at the world as we do."

Pretender in New Zealand
(New Zealand Herald, February 12th 1999)

The action series The Pretender may be into season three on US screens, but the show's star, Michael T. Weiss says, "I never expected the show to go beyond the pilot. Every year I get after this is a plus," says Weiss, who stars as the show's fugitive genius, Jarod. "It was very much an experimental show. We did the pilot and thought, 'Ah-no way' but they tested the show with the network, and the rest is history as they say."
And history is probably where the show's makers looked to when putting The Pretender together. It is, after all, a fairly derivative series, getting its innocent-man-on-the-run premise form any number of shows starting with David Janssen's classic The Fugitive, plundering Quantum Leap for the assumed-identity-per-episode angle and taking the clandestine scientific organisation theme from The X-Files.
As for the child genius bit - anyone remember Joe 90? Weiss himself adds to the mix by suggesting "there's even a touch of Steve Urkel (Family Matters) in there." That remark reveals that Weiss isn't about to male the mistake of taking The Pretender too seriously.
He knows how fragile a TV show can be in the fickle world of US television and when asked where he would like to see Jarod, end up he answers, "Hawaii".
His stock answer to the question of how he goes about playing a genius is "but I am a genius" and when asked what he feels he has brought to the show, he says "big hair".
But despite all the exciting things Weiss gets to do as The Pretender assumes a new identity each week, there is a slight drawback to the role: because Jarod is constantly on the run from the sinister Centre, Weiss seldom gets to see his fellow actors. "I get lonely sometimes," he says. "It's like the changing of the guard - usually I'll be leaving as they'll coming in. But we have a great time when we do see each other".

Michael T Weiss has no pretensions about life
(by Robert Fidgeon, The Herald Sun-Guide, May 26 1999, Australia) 

One of US TV's success stories has been The Pretender, about a non-violent, one-man vigilante crusader for justice called Jarod. From humble beginnings three years ago, The Pretender has built a huge following world-wide.
Series star Michael.T.Weiss admits success of the show surprised all connected with it. "None of us thought it would catch on" Weiss says, in that familiar deep, growled delivery. "I did the pilot thinking: "Well at least I'll be able to eat for a year", but it did extremely well when it was screened here late in 1996, and here we are three years later still paying our way."
The Chicago-born Weiss appeared in many local TV commercials as a child and studied acting while at high-school. After graduating, he enrolled in the University of Southern California school of drama and in 1984 landed the role of Dr Mike Horton on Days Of Our Lives. Leaving Days after six years, Weiss co-starred in movies like Dark Shadows and 2000 Malibu Road with Drew Barrymore and Jennifer Beals, the off-beat comedy Jeffrey and Oliver Stone's feature Freeway.
But it's been The Pretender that has put him on the map and swelled his bank balance. "When you sign up to do a series like this, and it takes off, you don't realise what's going to happen to your life," he says. "It can take it's toll. I try to maintain my balance."
Like many actors, Weiss concedes the least pleasing side of fame is the loss of privacy. "But you just have to make peace with yourself over that. Weekends I prefer to hang out with people who don't care about, or don't work in the film industry, and just do normal things," he says.
He is also keen to work behind the camera and has just sold a pilot to the FOX Network that he wrote and wants to produce. "There is still a long way to go with it, obviously, but at least we've got to square one," he says. " That's one of the biggest benefits of being involved with something like The Pretender - it helps open doors. I've just done a couple of films on the strength of this series".
An outspoken environmentalist, Weiss is on the board of directors for the Earth Communications Office, which uses the media and entertainment industry to remind people about environmental care. "That, to me, is the ultimate charity," he says. "Without a sustainable planet nothing much else would matter. My philosophy is: if you can't pronounce what's written on the label, don't buy it."
In The Pretender, Jarod is forever being tracked by the dogged Miss Parker, played by Andrea Parker. Weiss acknowledges a good deal of the show's strength comes from the co-star. "She's a great person and wonderful to work with," he says. "Most of the cast and crew have been with the show for three years, so we're more like a family. It's always a joy to go to work, which is important when your working with a group for 14 hours a day."

The Weiss guy – X-pose visits the set of The Pretender and meets with its hugely talented star Michael T. Weiss
(by David Richardson) 

Three years into NBC's hit Saturday night show The Pretender, and viewers have learned very little about Jarod, the enigmatic fugitive played by Michael T Weiss. Now approximately 40 years old, we know he was born at the NuGenesis clinic to parents Charles and Margaret. At four years of age he was kidnapped by The Centre, raised by Sydney (Patrick Bauchau), and his genius was exploited for profit.
Thirty-four years later, Jarod escaped his prison and experienced the outside world for the first time. Using his incredible skills as a pretender, he moves through society assuming different identifies and professions with ease, searching for his family, and helping those who justice has failed. Deprived of their greatest asset, The Centre is never far behind - and Miss Parker (Andrea Parker) and Sydney are charged with Jarod's return...
When Xpose visited the set, filming was underway on "Parole," episode six of season three, in which Jarod pretends to be an ex-con. The scenes being shot today are dark and dramatic, as Jarod forces a confession of murder out of his parole officer Jack, and it's obvious that the series is moving into more adult territory.
"It's going great," enthuses a tattoo-covered Michael T. Weiss, when we meet in his trailer. "I think the show this year is much more solid than we've ever done. Jarod's grown up a lot, the show's grown up a lot, the visuals have grown up a lot so I think it's a really wonderful year for us. If anyone's been a fan of the show from the beginning, they're gonna be in for a nice surprise. I think the first year of any TV show it's starting to find itself, but when you get three years to run you get to work out all the kinks, and see what works and what doesn't work. We have more money, it's just more quality television than we started out with. We're doing the best work we can do. It's much more mature, it's more edgy; it's darker... it's not as family-oriented, it's more adult oriented. Which I think is kind of fun, because the stories are allowed to be more interesting." While The Pretender still follows Jarod's learning process as he continues to discover the outside world, Weiss insists that the character is growing up fast. Back in season one he was learning about ice cream and Mr. Potato Head... now Jarod's discoveries run a little deeper.
"The things that we're going to have him discover might be human foibles or betrayals or things that aren't as obvious as a cookie," says the actor. "He's just much more adult. He's been out in the world for three years now so he's grown up a lot, realizes he can trust some people and can't trust some people. He's seen ice cream, and like yesterday we shot at a strip joint. That's the first time he's seen a strip joint - so he's kind of gone into his adolescent phase! The thing about Jarod you'll see this season is that he's much subtler than he was in the first year. Some edges are refined a bit. I get older, and you have to let that come through in the character. "He still plays the innocence, it's just another kind of innocence. He's seen a lot of stuff, but I think his naivete will come through."
When asked how he approaches playing the character's ingenuousness, the actor smiles playfully. "I'm just really innocent!" he laughs. "I just work all day and I never see anything in the real world! I fashion him after how I would be if I looked at the world for the first time," Weiss continues. "You watch kids, and they're full of wonder. Plus I was in Berlin when the Berlin Wall opened. I remember the day the East Germans came over to West Germany and I watched their faces, and they were wandering around with a wide-eyed look. That's how they looked at the world, and that's how I play Jarod."
The Pretender is loosely based on the life of Ferdinand Demara, a man who successfully pretended to be a doctor, a lawyer and worked in a host of other professions before being caught by the authorities. Demara's life story was told in The Imposter, which Weiss read before taking on the role of Jarod. That research was the easy part; on a weekly basis Weiss must convince viewers that he could be a doctor or a cop or a musician...
"We usually have an Intendent on set that is of the profession who can help us," he reveals. "Like if I'm on a SWAT team they'll have a SWAT team member, or a doctor if I'm a doctor. We try to do it as real as possible within the confines of eight days to shoot it in. I'm very much oriented to trying to make it as realistic as possible, but it's still a fantasy based television show so we allow a little artistic leeway. While this aspect of the series provides Weiss with difficult challenges, it does help maintain the show's freshness.
Are there any professions he has played in the series that he has found interesting? "I think I'd be a doctor - doctors are cool," he responds. "Holistic doctors, who try and heal people in a healthy way." The many facets of Jarod are just one aspect of the series that has attracted excellent viewing figures and a solid fan base. As the show has developed, has the back stories of each of the leading characters - their dark pasts and deepest secrets revealed when you least expect it.
How much of the show's mythology was Weiss aware of when he first began filming the pilot episode? "It´s just sort of developed," he explains. "I think the world at The Centre is pretty defined. I probably started understanding Jarod about eight episodes into the first season. The thing that's hard about this show is that unless you're a hardcore fan, some of the lore is lost on you. Hardcore fans know every little intricate bit of lore about the show. They have hundreds of websites - they're like the Trek fans."
While Weiss's enthusiasm for The Pretender is evident, he admits that playing the leading role in a network series has taken over his life. Dramas like E.R., Ally McBeal and Law and Order spread the workload over a large ensemble of characters; Jarod, however; appears every episode. "I spend more time during the day playing Jarod than I do being Michael," he offers. " Somedays I wish that the focus would be on somebody else. Today would be one of those days I would like to be at the beach, but you can't. I'm sure the President feels that way sometimes - his life must be horrible. I can't imagine someone having the focus on them 24 hours a day every day. But you get used to it; it's just that sometimes I can't wait to go home at the end of the day to be by myself. When I'm playing Jarod I have a whole set of memories; a whole separate set of thought processes. He thinks in a different way than I do, which usually takes long time for an actor to develop, but I've had three years of history with this guy. So there's a whole big rich history, so it's real easy for me play him. He's kind of alive now."
Ironically, Weiss rarely even gets to meet his co-stars. As Miss Parker and Sydney are usually exploring their own storylines or following Jarod's trail, they are unlikely to share scenes with him. "That's the hardest part for me," Weiss concedes. "We're really blessed, for such a wacky show, to have such a talented ensemble of actors. The crew kind of become my compatriots because I don't see my co-stars very much. But when I do, it's fun. The rare challenge and the fun thing is that I get different actors to work with every week. Sometimes you bond, times you don't, but you get to work with an array of talent. It makes you push, because you're working with different energy all the time."
An accomplished playwright, having completed his script Streams of Consciousness, Weiss intends to complement his on-screen work on The Pretender by working behind the camera. "I hope to direct a couple of episodes," he reveals, before adding that he has joined forces with executive producers Craig Van Sickle and Stephen Long Mitchell in pitching a new series to Fox Television. "We're developing that which is exciting. It's not a sci-fi show. If it goes, I will produce, so I'll be involved in creatively shaping. Obviously my first commitment will be to this show. I love to write, it's just hard to find the time."
An outspoken environmentalist, Weiss is on the board of directors for the Earth Communications Office and serves as their director of public service announcements. Where possible, he has tried to incorporate these belief sees the character as "a really good example." "I do the best I can do with parameters of my world and remind people that the environmental crisis isn't over," he says. "We've switched to recycled products on the set, which is great. My next battle is to get them to print scripts on both sides, but it takes a long time to retrain. But we recycle everything else now."
Blessed with a broad format, a talented ensemble and an inventive team of writers, The Pretender should continue to enjoy a long life with NBC. Weiss says that he is unlikely to get bored with the role, simply because it offers so much variety. "There are billions of professions and there are billions of worlds that Jarod is going to go into. The worlds are getting subtler too - it's not like a fire chief or a doctor any more. It's gonna be more subtle things, like I'm an ex-con today. We're playing with different levels of society. I can play a different character every week. He's such a multi-faceted character just as Jarod: he's dark and he's malevolent and he's innocent. I think he's the best character on television truthfully."

WEISS GUY - The Pretender´s Michael T. Weiss wants no part of Hollywood fakery
(by Michael Logan, TV Guide Magazine, March 2000) 

Michael T. Weiss may be the star of The Pretender, but he has no interest in pretense. Four seasons into the NBC series, the 38-year-old leading man could easily afford a lavish pad, yet he still lives in the same fixer-upper house he moved into when he was a struggling actor in the ´80s. Some of his clothes date to the ´70s, his politics to the ´60s, and his neighborhood - funky Venice, the Southern California beach haven filled with skaters, artists, activists and Hell´s Angels - seems far removed from the Hollywood machine and the prying eyes of the media.
"I live my life the same way I did before I was on TV, but it´s really nothing profound," Weiss insists, over breakfast, in his trailer on the Pretender set. "I am a very simple person. I am an environmentalist. I am a fixture in my community, I respect the golden rule." Finishing off his last soggy spoonful of granola, he continues, "I protect myself from the Hollywood game. I’ve watched people crash and burn in this business."
For Weiss, self-protection means few, if any, talk-show appearances, star-studded parties, premieres or any other events patrolled by paparazzi. He has never been seen seriously dating anyone in public. In fact, Weiss just might possess the lowest profile of any star currently fronting a long-running series. "I became an actor to move people," he says. "I did it to entertain, to inspire, not so people could pick through my garbage or nose around in my private life to find out who’s zooming who. It´s nobody’s business who I’m zooming."
Weiss swears his reluctance to hype Pretender "is no reflection on how I feel about the show. In fact, I wake up every morning saying, “My God, I have the best job on TV!” Creatively speaking, no actor has it better than I do." He plays Jarod, a genius with the ability to master any occupation, a man forever on the run from The Centre, a shadowy organization that raised him as a sheltered captive. Weiss assumes an endless array of personate - nuclear scientist, animal wrestler, airline pilot, white supremacist - in an anthology format that is alternately comic, romantic, scary and emotional. Among the most popular conceits of the series is Jarod’s introduction to experiences most of us take for granted - Oreo cookies, "Wheel of Fortune" and, yes, sex.
"We auditioned hundreds for the role but Michael was Jarod," says Pretender co-creator and executive producer Steven Long Mitchell. "He was both light and dark, happy and tormented. You could see the child in his eyes." The suits at NBC wanted a big name for the part, but Mitchell and partner Craig Van Sickle stood firm. Says Mitchell, "We told them that if they didn´t see in Michael what we saw, there was no reason to do the show."
Raised in the Chicago suburb of Northbrook (his dad is a steel-industry exec, his mom is a homemaker), Weiss split town after high school to study theater at the University of Southern California, where his classmates included Ally Sheedy, Forest Whitaker, Eric Stoltz and Anthony Edwards. After a pay-the-rent stint as a personal trainer (his clients included James Brolin and Pierce Brosnan), he landed his first big gig in 1985, playing the achingly sweet Dr. Mike Horton on Days of Our Lives. Weiss quit the daytime soap in 1990, moving on to the equally sudsy primetime series Dark Shadows (1991) and 2000 Malibu Road (1992). Both flopped, but Weiss learned how to roll with the career punches.
"The day may come when I won’t act," claims Weiss, who recently directed his first Pretender episode. "I think it would be lovely to get really fat and not worry about anything but being behind the camera." Never married, Weiss sidesteps issues of romance, stating only, "I certainly plan to have children one day and, when I do, I will teach them respect for the planet and the future." He says his home is chemical-free; he uses only minimal electricity and drives a Toyota Prius, a gas-electric hybrid that gets 700 miles per tank. He peppers his conversation with rhetorical queries like, "Do we really need a Starbucks on every corner?" and, "Is it really important to have blue toilet water?" Catching himself at one point, he says with a laugh, "I am not perfect and don’t pretend to be."
Weiss, who shared on-screen kisses with Steven Weber (Wings) in the film Jeffrey (1995), clearly relishes an occasional walk on the wild side, and indie filmmakers have obliged: in two upcoming films, Net Worth and Freeway II:Confessions of a Trick Baby, he’ll be seen, respectively, as a womanizing boozer and a cocaine dealer. "I don´t judge," states Weiss. "The world has a huge range of humanity, and I want to play it all. I am fascinated by people."
That said, he is a mystery even to the Pretender cast. Andrea Parker, who plays the series’ Emma Peel-esque villain, Miss Parker, declined to be interviewed for this article, stating through a publicist that she didn’t feel she knew Weiss well enough to comment. Jon Gries, who plays The Centre’s computer geek, Broots, says: "We rarely see Michael because we rarely have scenes with him. We’re a family, but we think of him as our wayward brother."
Weiss feels no obligation to be otherwise. "I didn’t set out in life with a plan to be evasive," he says. "It’s just that in my perfect, ideological world, my work should be enough." Then he flashes a wicked grin and adds, "I’ll write my autobiography when I’m dead."

Michael T. Weiss in Venice Magazine (1/2000) 

It’s Sunday, 4 PM, the ever popular Rose Cafe in Venice is filled with patrons, when a relaxed, confident Michael T. Weiss strolls in, wearing sort of a James Bond vibe. He was building a respectable career in independent films when his NBC show, The Pretender, blew up big time. Now the man is an incredibly popular TV star, yet, true to his television persona, he can maneuver through the crowd unrecognized. With hot tea in hand, we find a corner table in the back to chat.
How was growing up in Chicago?
I grew up thinking Illinois was the center of the universe. Big sports fan, spent many summers at Wrigley Field. Cub shortstop Don Kessinger was my next door neighbour. Cubs, Bears, and Bulls, loved them all.
How did you survive those brutal winters?
At 30 below zero my friends and I would hang out in our basement and watch all those great TV shows, Mannix, Streets of San Francisco. I was a big Wild Wild West fan, which has something in common with The Pretender. Ross Martin, alias Artemus Gordon, was always in disguise, pretending to be a different character each week. Much like Jarod. That’s why I always say, hands down, I have the best job on TV. For four years, every week it’s a different challenge, different look, different wardrobe. One week it’s a doctor, cop, cowboy, race car driver. I would hate to have to put the scrubs on and be the same doctor all the time.
This week you just finished your first foray into TV directing. You helmed a Pretender episode. What was that like?
It was really fun, enlightening, and incredibly exhausting. As an actor I work 15 hours a day, as a director it was more like 20, and mentally draining. There is always a question you need to answer. To my surprise, I found out that all the hours I’ve spent on the set as an actor have sunk in. I’ve learned and absorbed a lot by osmosis. And we have a great crew, a real family, very talented people, which made the job run very smoothly. Our episode takes place in the South - it deals with white supremacists - so we had this southern church, with 12 gospel singers, 100 extras, and the great Billy Preston. One of the lights blew out, so while we are on a break waiting, Billy is sitting at the piano when he starts playing Nothing From Nothing Leaves Nothing. Suddenly, the gospel singers start impromptu singing, soon the extras chime in, then the crew. Before you know it, we had 400 people singing! It’s one of those moments when you’re so proud to be a part of the entertainment industry.
Sounds like you’d like to do more directing.
Definitely. It was great. I’d like to direct more TV, maybe an independent film.
Before The Pretender you did some interesting parts in independent features like Freeway and Jeffrey. What made you commit to TV?
One, a great part. Two, I like to eat. Macaroni and cheese gets old real quick. It’s funny, when I started the show many actors looked down on TV. Now everyone wants to do it.
Let’s talk about movies. What was the Freeway experience like?
It was my first film, produced by Oliver Stone, which ain’t bad. Kevin Bright is a wonderful director. I got to work with Amanda Plummer who has this huge energy. She is so great, I idolize her.
And Jeffrey got critical acclaim. You had a great cast - Patrick Stewart, Sigourney Weaver, Nathan Lane...
At the time it was really cutting edge. That was the first time anyone addressed the AIDS issue as a comedy. To this day, people still come up to me how much they loved it.
What’s the upside and downside of being a TV star?
Well, the network flew all their stars to the Super Bowl last year. That was fun. Imagine if that plane went down, there goes the entire fall lineup (laughs). Downside, well, when 12 million people a week watch you there isn’t much privacy. Sometimes I’m in the grocery store and someone will come up and say, "Are you pretending to do your grocery shopping?" That gets old, too. But, hey, I’m not complaining, I’ve got a great job.
You once said if you weren’t an actor you’d be either a really active environmentalist or living on your own island near Tahiti with a harem. I think Brando already beat you to it.
Yeah, I´ll stick to being an actor. But everyone needs to help out with the environment, for the future of the planet. For a while everyone was on the bandwagon, lots of attention, but lately it´s taken a backseat to other things, a backseat to anything.
You wrote that your most humble experience was sitting at the edge of the Grand Canyon thinking how awesome nature is and how insignificant we are. Isn’t that the truth. So what’s next?
Hopefully, The Pretender will get picked up for a fifth year, and when the show’s over I’ll have the freedom to make choices based on artistic merit, not financial needs. More free time to devote to environmental causes. I want to do some traveling, more directing, writing.
You recently wrote a play, Streams Of Consciousness, which you did at the Met Theater under the auspices of Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, and Holly Hunter. What was that like?
It was really incredible. Sitting around talking, acting with Holly Hunter. Need I say more?
How long did it take you to write the play?
I actually get these bursts of creativity, I don’t like writing, I never enjoyed that, but occasionally, I have to say something. It just bursts out of me like a muse.
You drive an electric car?
Yeah, I had a pure electric car, Toyota RAV4, now I drive a Toyota Prius, a hybrid, part electric, part fuel. It’s great, gets 70 miles a gallon, gives out 10% of the emissions. At low speeds it runs on electric, so at the drive-thru it gives off zero emissions, switches over to fuel automatically at high speeds, plenty of pep. It’s not on the market yet, but Toyota will be coming out with this car Summer 2000. Hopefully, in the near future every family will have at least one and their quality will improve by 70%.
Word has it you’re a big fan of Venice and Venice Magazine.
Yeah, I love it, read it all the time. I live here in Venice, have since 1986. It’s got a New York vibe. I can leave my car parked all weekend, walk to the beach, gym, restaurants, it’s great. Shhh, don’t tell anybody.

The Pretender 2001 - Jarod Gets a New Life Again
(by Amy H. Sturgis) 

Hats off to TNT for The Pretender 2001, the made-for-TV movie that aired on Monday, January 22. TNT rescued Babylon 5 from the wastebasket and they've done it again with The Pretender. It couldn't have happened to a better program. Not since Sydney Bloom slumped before her monitor in VR5 had a science fiction series been so rudely abandoned mid-cliffhanger by its network. For those of you who've been living under a rock, The Pretender used to be the first act of NBC's so-called "Thrillogy" (which was neither a true trilogy nor consistently thrilling; discuss amongst yourselves). Though it had little in the new ideas department, the formula was tried and true: good man is wronged, good man does wrong, good man runs away, good man helps others, and, finally, good man atones. The man was Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. He came to the small screen in the 1960s as Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive. The story took on elements of science fiction in the 1970s with Dr. David Banner in the comic-turned-series The Incredible Hulk. In The Pretender, the wronged and running altruist was Jarod, a gifted genius and escapee from the sinister Centre. Every week Jarod stayed one step ahead of his pursuers and managed to right wrongs, save lives, and do justice in the process. Good to a fault, the classic white knight was not the most three-dimensional or interesting character to follow, actor Michael T. Weiss' eye-candy appearance notwithstanding. The Centre, however, was quite a different story. This mysterious organization kidnapped Jarod as a small child and exploited his abilities in a series of "simulations." Jarod learned to use his intellect and empathy to "pretend," or completely assume a given character, and roleplay scenarios for those who controlled him. After decades of such servitude he discovered that the simulations corresponded to real-life situations (and, like the Cigarette-Smoking Man from The X-Files, he seemed to have his hand in every global upheaval and cataclysm in the last few decades). As with Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, the hero learned that his controllers had used his genius to injure and kill. Jarod escaped from The Centre and remained on the run for all four seasons of the program. The great accomplishment of this flawed yet fascinating show rested with its secondary characters. Though they were Jarod's main pursuers, they were themselves prisoners of The Centre. Each of them nursed personal reasons to recapture Jarod, reasons that often conflicted with orders from the enigmatic "Triumvirate" that ruled the shadow organization. Miss Parker, the daughter of a Centre leader, wanted Jarod because of the knowledge he possessed; he alone knew the truth of her mother's murder, and, later, of her long-hidden brother. Sydney, the doctor who raised and protected Jarod, feared for his childlike prodigy's chances in the real world and longed to restore their father-son bond. Broots, the computer expert and perennial sidekick, served The Centre out of fear for the safety of his daughter. The Centre - or, more specifically, the Centre's ghoulish basement - provided the program's science fiction backdrop. This den harbored secret and often horrific research on human subjects regarding cloning, mind control, and extra-sensory perception. Cattle prods, chains, and gynecological chairs with iron shackles were the norm. Characters like the freakish Angelo, the pathetic result of Lovecraftian experiments gone wrong, hid in the shadows and occasionally helped Jarod's cause. To its credit, the basic arc of The Pretender overcame its formulaic obstacles and evolved significantly over its four years. Jarod grew from prey to informant as he tutored his pursuers on ways to stay alive and one step ahead of the Centre. The secondary characters became more cynical and rebellious as they faced new dangers and revelations, informing each other (and sometimes on each other) as they navigated Centre half-truths. Baddies like Mr. Raines and Mr. Lyle sometimes seemed like good guys, and heroes like Sydney and Miss Parker did diabolical things. People grew and changed and learned. Most importantly, questions got answers. What happened to Jarod's family? Who is Mr. Lyle? Why was Catherine Parker killed? Unlike some shows - are you listening, Chris Carter? - The Pretender proved that mystery and continuity are not mutually exclusive. At its core, The Pretender was about family. Jarod sought his as a source of strength; Miss Parker recognized hers as a dangerous threat. Sydney sacrificed much for the victim he regarded as a son, and missed an opportunity with his real child in the process; Broots did what he despised to protect the daughter he refused to lose again. The fourth season finale made this connection all the more literal by introducing a brutalized half brother shared by Jarod and Miss Parker, himself a survivor of the Centre's worst abuses. While his existence resolved many old mysteries, it uncovered still more. I am pleased to say that The Pretender 2001 lived up to the series' tradition, solving mysteries about The Centre, Jarod's past escape, and the newly-discovered Ethan (half-brother of both Jarod and Miss Parker). But the movie also left me wanting more, as it raised new questions about Mr. Parker, the death of Miss Parker's mother, and the paranormal goings-on at The Centre - including Sydney's secret training of two generations of Parkers in the finer points of extra-sensory perception. Color me thrilled that TNT has already begun production yet another Pretender movie. This one is due out in April. I only hope I can wait that long.

The Lyle File - Xposé investigates The Pretender’s sinister psychopath Mr. Lyle, aka actor Jamie Denton

He’s handsome, charismatic and dresses immaculately in sharply cut suits. But don’t be fooled by the attractive exterior of The Pretender’s Mr. Lyle; beneath that cheerful smile lies one of the darkest and deadliest minds on television. Known to some of his colleagues as “The Bogeyman”, Mr. Lyle is a highly ambitious employee of the mysterious organization known as The Centre. He’s worked hard to ensure a position of power, and when their prize genius Jarod (Michael T. Weiss) escapes his confines and goes on the run, Mr. Lyle proves that he will stop at nothing to track him down. In fact, Mr. Lyle’s unorthodox methods have frequently been known to confound his associates Miss Parker (Andrea Parker) and Sydney (Patrick Bauchau), who consider him psychotic. But, as Mr. Lyle has been known to retort, “Psychiatric evaluations can be really subjective.”
“Mr. Lyle is really interesting,” enthuses actor Jamie Denton, who brings life to the scheming, yet charming, individual. “The main attraction in playing him is that he’s not at all what he appears to be. I know that’s not the most novel concept, but it is still a lot of fun to play. In the first episode the character was very Jimmy Stewart; a very normal guy, coming to work at the office, all smiles and just wanting everyone to be friends. By the end of the season, he is kidnapping and killing off his wives! I already liked the whole tone of the show before they hired me; the look and the darkness and the edge. To get to play the kind of character that does that sort of turnaround was a big attraction.” As the series has progressed, so we have learned more about the dysfunctional Mr. Lyle - or Bobby Bowman, to use his real name. Adopted as a child by Nebraskan farmers, Lyle and Martha Bowman, word has it that young Bobby was a sweet and affectionate kid. Then, at 15 years of age, he was visited by a “counselor” from his adoption agency - who was later revealed to be an operative from The Centre. After that, Bobby became moody and violent - to a degree that his father would lock him in a padlocked wood shed. Later, Bobby would fake his own death, framing his father for the murder, while his mother went insane, looking after dogs that do not exist. Bobby reinvented himself as Mr. Lyle, gained a position of considerable authority within The Centre and was awarded temporary control of the Jarod project by the ruling Triumvirate. “He's sort of a classic sociopath,” defines Denton gleefully. So how does the actor approach playing such an unapologetically evil person? “I just bring it from home,” laughs Denton. “Ask my wife! You just have to pick a couple of things. I’m not a big method guy when it comes to acting. As long as you know the character and what they’re after, it’s pretty much simple. Every scene with this guy, you just find a couple of things that drive him, to keep from over complicating him...it’s all about gaining respect, power and revenge. From there that just drives you through the scene, and you do everything with the same kind of motivation because it’s TV and it’s so fast. You don’t have a lot of time and the scenes are really short because the show is about Michael. You just want to be clear when you go in there that this is a guy on a mission, and you can’t flesh it out a whole lot like you can in films. It’s gotta be fairly narrow.”
Ask any actor what kind of role they prefer to play, and nine times out of ten they will insist they are attracted to portraying the bad guy. Denton agrees that the role of Mr. Lyle is a gift, enabling him to explore the darker side of the human psyche. “The things I get to say to people in the scenes are things you’d never get to say in real life. You get to unload on people, and the double entendres and the things that Lyle has going on...There was the mail order bride episode (“Someone To Trust”) where he was bringing the brides over and killing them off. It’s kind of sick and warped, but there is definitely an element of fun to it. It’s the sort of thing you would never, ever dream of doing in real life.” Of course, Mr. Lyle has faced his comeuppance on a number of occasions. His deals with the Japanese Mafia were thwarted by Jarod, and it was believed that in retaliation, Mr. Lyle has been killed. However, he later returned in “A Stand Up Guy” - minus a thumb which may have been severed in punishment. “Originally we talked about that I would be killed off piece by piece,” laughs the actor. “It would be a hand, then a foot ... it would be like the Monty Python skit with the Black Knight, where it’s just the torso and no limbs!”
Of course, now that Mr. Lyle has been maimed, Denton’s own fully-functional digit must be concealed. “The hand’s pretty much always in the pocket,” he responds. “It's one of those things we did, and now we’re sort of stuck with it. There was talk about a mechanical thing, but we just decided to downplay it.” For scenes in which Lyle does show his hand, so to speak, the actor must wear a special glove, which has had the thumb removed and sewn up. “It's really tight, so I use that, and I just can’t really turn my hand all the way over. I never take it out of my pocket unless the scene calls for it...that way it’s not overdone. For a couple of scenes they created a prosthetic in which the fingers move – it’s very realistic. They’ve used that on two different shows, just to remind you that it’s there. (Lyle shows his hand) to creep out Broots, or to intimidate somebody. I'd love to see the Yakuza theme come back around. I think they talked about the possibility of revisiting that at some point.”
Since his run in with the Mafia, Lyle has mixed fortunes. His attempt to sell a computer chip from The Centre, which contained genetic codes, forced him to stage his own death again and he began a freelance campaign to trap Jarod. In Red Rock Jarod, Mr. Lyle lures his prey to a small desert town, captures him - and threatens to sever one of his thumbs. Jarod is ultimately saved by his brother Kyle and Mr. Lyle takes one step closer to insanity. However, at the start of season three, Mr. Parker (Harve Presnell) insisted on Lyle’s reinstatement at The Centre, and we ultimately discover that they are father and son. Which is disturbing news for Miss Parker, who must come to terms with the fact that her own twin brother is a psychopathic killer. Denton reveals that he was delighted when the producers told him of their plans for this surprising turn of events. “That was really a big motivating factor in coming back for another season,” he beams. “It was the best news I’d gotten since I was hired. Originally Mr. Lyle was sort of ambiguous. I didn’t even know where he came from. Finding out that he was gonna be Miss Parker’s twin brother made all the difference in the world. I was excited about the possibilities. There are some elements that are sort of soap opera about it, for better or for worse, but the fact that I was Miss Parker’s twin led to so many directions, and it was so much more fun playing the stuff with her.”
With The Pretender still doing good business for NBC (in fact the syndication rights have just been sold to TNT), and the cast committed to five year contracts, it seems pretty likely that the show will run for at least another couple of years. Producers Craig Van Sickle and Stephen Long Mitchell have already decided how the saga will draw to a close and - in a show that centers on the theme of justice and vengeance - one might imagine that Mr. Lyle has a very gruesome end in store. How does Denton see his character developing in forthcoming seasons? “It's interesting to read on the Internet all the fan fiction and all the speculation from people who are regular viewers of the show,” muses the actor. “Are they really brother and sister? Did Lyle tamper with the blood sample? Are they really going to end up being twins? It wouldn't surprise me if we find out down the road that there is a lot more to that story, that maybe they’e not ... I haven’t heard anything, I’m hoping they’ll remain twins. I think it's just going to be more of Lyle trying to climb that ladder to the Triumvirate,” he concludes, “working his way more entrenched into the hierarchy. This guy is just working his way up - he wants more power!”

INTERVIEW WITH ANDREA PARKER

Andrea Parker tells X-Pose about the thrill of the chase in The Pretender. Playing a TV villain can be a thankless task. Just take The Pretender’s cold and determined Miss Parker. She’s a wonderful character, charged with returning the runaway Jarod to The Centre at any cost. Yet her alter ego, the charming actress Andrea Parker, sometimes suffers the public’s wrath for her on-screen callous deeds.
“I was at a party,” Parker tells XPose, “and I was speaking with one woman. We’d been chatting for 20 minutes, and a girlfriend of mine came up and started talking about the show. She said, “Oh, you’re an actress?” I said “Yeah. I work on a show called The Pretender.” She said, “I watch The Pretender. Who are you?” I said “I play Miss Parker.” She looked at me, she stared at me, and her eyes got really wide, and she said, “My God, you are Miss Parker. I can’t stand you.” And she refused to talk to me for the rest of the evening. Then I just thought, “How strange are you? And how complimented am I!”
I must confess, before commencing the interview with the actress, I was hit by a wave of uncharacteristic nervousness. Her TV character is so resolute, so manipulative, so overbearing, that I almost expected to finish the chat as a quivering wreck. Yet the real Parker is generous, kind mannered, and displays all the good humor that The Centre’s evil agent clearly lacks. It seems that this confusion of actress and character is a regular occurrence, but Parker takes it in her stride.
“I'm flattered by that,” she beams. “That's the best compliment I could be given, for people to think that I truly am that way only confirms that they are believing my acting. My suspension of that reality was believed, and that’s my job – that’s what I get paid for, and that’s what I love to do.” So is the old adage that bad guys are always the most fun to play actually true? “Oh, absolutely”, she responds. “To tell you the truth, it’s the sweet and demure and softer characters who are the ones off screen that you have to be careful of!”.
The Pretender made it’s debut on NBC in 1996, and quickly earned a substantial audience thanks to a unique and intriguing format devised by executive producers Stephen Long Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle. Kidnapped by The Centre as a child, Jarod (Michael T Weiss) has been abused and his genius tapped in the name of profit. But when Jarod escapes, and uses his gifts in the name of good, Miss Parker and Sydney (Patrick Bauchau) are assigned to bring him back. Parker recalls that she was instantly attracted to the character; the fact that they share the same surname is a total fluke. “It was the most fascinating and unapologetic female character I had seen,” she claims. “'She’s an uncompromising individual. She does not apologize for who she is. She is aggressive and demanding and condescending and impatient and controlling…just so many qualities that we rarely get to see from a female character. At the same time being quite vulnerable and lonely and sad and pathetic. The fact that my name was all over the script, I assumed gave me the edge! It is bizarre...it never dawned on me to have it changed.”
As the series has progressed, the audience has gained an insight into the events that have made Miss Parker into such a monster. Her mother Catherine died in an elevator shaft when she was just 10 years old. Miss Parker had always believed this to be suicide, but Jarod later revealed that she was murdered - and we later discovered that the killer was Jarod’s father. Miss Parker would also discover that she was conceived during her mother’s affair with Ben Miller, and that the man she believed was her father cannot be trusted. Indeed it also appears that her colleague Lyle (Jamie Denton), who she regards with contempt, is her brother…these dark secrets have allowed the audience to empathize with Miss Parker and the actress claims that. When she took the role, she was aware that the character would ultimately develop beyond the limitations of being an efficient, heartless bitch. “In the original script that I read, Miss Parker was a lot more three-dimensional, a lot more of a full character than we saw in just the pilot,” she says. “I wouldn't have taken the show if I hadn’t thought that those qualities would eventually come around. But by the same token I have to be very careful. There is a fine line there and I don’t want her to be too weak or too vulnerable. It’s important that her edge is maintained, and that we keep all of the dimensions and the qualities of the character together. If all she was was a demanding bitch, that would tend to get quite boring. But I think those qualities mixed in with many other colors are what make her so interesting.” Was she able to research the role at all? “Only in my own psyche,” Parker muses. “The deeper and darker and volatile parts of my own mind and experiences are what I’ve drawn from. I’ve actually had to fabricate and manipulate my own fantasies to make a backstory and history for her. My life is quite blessed, I’m very loved and supported by a large family. Unfortunately Miss Parker has not had that same experience, so I’ve had to do a lot of work to understand what it would be like to grow up as she did, in a very isolated and unloving environment. Not to say that she has never been shown what love is, I think that’s what creates the inner conflict for her - she was intensely close with her mother, until her mother passed away when she was about 10. So for the first 10 years of her life she had a very normal and happy childhood, and the death of her mother is when the frailties came about. It was the loss of her mother, the loss of love.”
For the scenes featuring Miss Parker as a child, the character is played by Ashley Peldon. Given that, the two of actresses never co-exist together on screen, do they tend to interact at all between the scenes? “Oh absolutely, we've spent good quality time together,” enthuses Parker. “What a talented and fine young woman she is. It’s actually quite incredible to see her growing up, because over the last three years these are crucial maturing ages. She looks more like a woman than I do these days. She launched a talented young lady.” Oddly enough, the two performers have never discussed their mutual character in depth. “I think I’ve been so impressed and pleased with her own portrayal as the character that I never felt it was my place to put upon her my own ideas. She hasn’t asked for my opinion, so I certainly wouldn’t offer it first.”
It’s been hinted that Miss Parker wishes to leave The Centre but cannot move on until she has caught Jarod. Her continued failure to do so has kept the character focused on her objective - and the producers have spiced up proceedings by introducing new dynamic into the mix such as Brigitte (Pamela Gidley) and Mr. Lyle. “We had a ball - so much fun!” says the actress of the new principals. “Pamela and I had a great time together shooting “Toy Surprise”, which was the episode where the nemeses meet and we basically got to beat the living tar out of each other.”
As For the future, Parker believes that writers will continue to explore both the hard aspects and vulnerable side of the character. “I think we just continue to ride both of those waves. As soon as she’s soft we’ll create more conflict and we’ll bitter her up a bit. As soon she gets too edgy we’ll bring in a little more vulnerability. It’s all about a balance.” Asked if she bears any similarities to her screen counterpart, Parker admits that both pursue what they want, “but I would never dream of treating people the way she does.”
They are also both reformed smokers, and during the first two seasons, the agent was frequently seen with a cigarette - something that can cause great controversy in these days of political correctness. “She was an avid smoker and didn’t apologize for it,” offers Parker. “To tell you the truth, I thought I would get a lot more grief than I did. I think it was the fact that she’s the villain and she’s evil. It’s OK to smoke. If you’re bad. “There was one great episode where Miss Parker and Sydney are in the car and they were on surveillance and Sydney is eating a croissant and he offers her one. She just puts the cigarette out right in the croissant!” It’s a healthier villain we’ve seen during the third season, as Miss Parker has steered clear of the nicotine - at the actress’ request. “I wanted to quit in my own life and I prepared the writers for that. The third season she came back a non-smoker. They haven’t made much mention of it - it hasn’t been that a big deal.”
Having played the character for more than 50 episodes, Parker has come to know the agent as intimately as the writers. The actress has reached the point where she feels able to make her own suggestions, although her requests have not been successful. “They humor me for the most part,” she shrugs. “They listen to everything I say and they nod and pat me on back, and sometimes they use them and sometimes they don’t. But they are always available and that’s important. To tell you the truth, sometimes they’re not used and I’ll put them in anyway! When they say “action”, I’m free, so I try and be good but occasionally I have override. I feel it’s necessary for the character, then it will be included. Sadly, one suggestion that did not come to fruition was for the episode “Toy Surprise”. An accomplished stunt driver from The Pretender set, Parker had hoped to bring her skills to the screen, and the script was written to accommodate this. I came to find out that one of my producers wasn’t comfortable with me doing that. I explained it to them that it’s something I’d been training to do for years and I actually am a professional stunt driver and I can do this work, but I wasn’t allowed to do it. Of course, if something happens to me then we’ve got a big problem. It’s a bone of contention; I don’t know really where the line is drawn there. I think it’s sad and unfortunate that something that I’m trained to do wouldn’t be allowed...it would make for a better show, as far as I’m concerned to be able to see in a long shot Miss Parker reverse 180 and then without breaking frame, without any edit, be able to come into a close up and know that it is me...a very powerful move. Especially as a female. It seemed like a big waste for me, but then again I’m paying for the show!”
Andrea Parker left home when she was 15 years old, a ballerina who was determined to succeed in show business. That resolve has paid off, and among her many screen credits are roles in Ellen, Murder, she wrote", Dream On, JAG and ER. In the latter show played a pharmaceuticals saleswoman who dated Doug Ross (George Clooney) and the role spanned a number of episodes during two seasons. “It was incredible,” says Parker, looking back to the early days of ER. “What a great show, what a talented cast. You’d think they were shooting a comedy over there. The energy on the set is so great and fun and George is just a treat to be near. He’s very genuine and very jovial and when I auditioned it was for two episodes and it turned into two seasons. It was a great role for me, it was a good character and it was a good opportunity for me to get my feet wet in the episodic department. There were so many really powerful people behind it and so many talented people cast, and the feedback from just the first couple of episodes was awesome. Everyone felt they were on speeding train and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
Does she feel that her role in such a high profile NBC series helped secure her job in The Pretender? “Sure. Everything helps this business - even projects that nobody ever sees. If you work with talented director who might cast you again in something else, even just getting out there and auditioning. Even if you don’t get the role sometimes you make an impression with the casting director. It’s not always the most talented man who gets the job in town, so it’s really about perseverance and being diligent and getting up the next day and doing it again. If you get a door slammed in your face, then you pick yourself up and you dust off and get back out there the next day. You can’t take it all so personally.” For the immediate future, Parker remains committed to The Pretender, a show that continues to draw fine viewing figures for NBC. And, as the show has developed, so its backstory has become more intriguing and the producers continue to surprise with fresh and exciting twists on the format. “There's action and human dilemmas and we have endless opportunities,” notes Parker. “Our executive producers/creators/writers are extraordinarily talented and I just don’t ever see the supply of ideas running out. Especially with a character like Jarod - he can do anything, he can be anyone on this planet and that’s a lot of people. "I think Jarod is a bit more dark and malevolent and vengeful in his own right now. He’s not as innocent and naive as he was when he first escaped from The Centre, which makes it more interesting. Mr. Lyle is adding some conflict and rivalry for Miss Parker which is always good. I think all of us feel grateful and blessed that we’re in our third season and continuing to do what we love to do - which is to work on this twisted little show.”
It's a silly question but it has to be asked: if Parker could pretend anyone or anything in her own life what would it be? “I wouldn’t wear any other shoes but my own!” she insists, before letting loose with that infectious laugh one more time. “Even if they are six inch stilettos!”

Broots, Scapegoat of Miss Parker
(by Stéphane Evanno, Generation Series, April/May/June 1998)

Generation Series: Who are you, Jon Gries, as the French viewers don't know you well?Jon Gries: People here don't know me well either! (laughs) What should I say? I am among those actors who appear from time to time in different parts - sometimes bad or even stupid ones (laughs again).
GS: Like in Martin?
JG: Martin was a good experience. As often as in Get Shorty I had the part of a bad guy, a little bit cowardly. I'm a character actor. So in that extent it's better not to be known. On the other hand, when character actors start to become famous, and when they often portray bad guys, there is the risk that they will be typecast. They are only known for that, and they aren't taken seriously anymore.
GS: You can also be seen in the first scene of Men In Black.
JG: Barry Sonnenfeld, who directed me in Get Shorty, called me and said to me: "Jon, come say the first line in my movie!" What should I have answered except "Of course"?
GS: How did The Pretender adventure start for you? What was your first contact with the producers?
JG: Very easy, we discussed. I had just done several movies. They asked me to come and shoot for one day. What, only one day? But I don't even know that series. And for a good reason - it was not aired yet. But I was curious, I like to know. I read the script and I liked it very much. Then they told me that Broots might come back in other episodes, but they didn't know yet. I told them: "He should because he is a character who explains what happens." A viewer can be confused if he starts the series in its middle. Broots summarizes sometimes what happened and so the story can go on.
GS: Your character becomes more and more important...
JG: When I was hired, I played that part in a certain way and the producers liked it. From the beginning on, there has been this antagonistic relationship between Miss Parker and Broots. She is pretty dominating. We love to play those scenes. We add some spice and through some scenes the comedy shows through. Jarod is also a comical character who discovers really ordinary things. He doesn't know what Cracker Jacks are, for example.
GS: Does Jon Gries resemble Broots sometimes?
JG: I think there is a bit of me in him. I am patient, but not as far as to accept being insulted.
GS: How do you explain the success of the series?
JG: Well, if I knew that, I would have a very important position! As one of the producers said, it's a series which you can never know how it will evolve. There is somehow something about family in it. All the characters have or have had relationships with each other. They are all looking for someone or trying to solve a mystery. For example, Miss Parker's mother has been murdered and Miss Parker tries to find out how, Jarod has been taken away from his parents, Broots has a daughter... those little things create an intimacy. And I think that Jarod is looking for the intrinsic good in each of us.
GS: What does Broots keep in reserve? Sydney would have been his psychiatrist?
JG: Steven Long Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle told me some things but they didn't say much as they don't want us to know too much in advance. They give us the script, and then we discover what they have prepared for us. Sometimes, it happens that they tell us more in order for us to act in the scene in a more appropriate manner. But generally, we know nothing. Each week, the focus is put on another character. The episode we are currently shooting (Indy Show) focuses on Sydney and his twin brother. Last week, it was... what was it about? (He bursts out laughing) I already can't remember it...

Jon Gries - alias the cowardly Broots - takes time out from the hunt for The Pretender to talk to Xposé
(byDavid Richardson, Xposé special #7, spring 1999) 

Very few TV shows gather their full ensemble of characters together in the pilot episode. Just look at The X-Files - Skinner, The Lone Gunmen, Agent Spender, Agent Fowley all came on board as the show progressed, as their appaearance in one-off episodes proved a hit with writers and viewers. Such was also the case with Broots on NBC's The Pretender. Played by Jon Gries, Broots is a computer expert hired by The Centre to help them locate Jarod (Michael T. Weiss). The organization had abducted the pretender when he was young, and used his gifts for commercial gain, but when Jarod escapes, Broots' knowledge is called upon to trace telephone calls and scour the Internet for leads. Gries recalls that when he first read for the role, it was literally a one-shot deal.
"I'd just finished doing a couple of films, and my agents had called me and said there was this new show called The Pretender," he tells Xposé. "They were in their second episode, and they wanted somebody to come in for a one-day deal. They wanted to read me for it and I was kind of being big for my breeches. I said "I've just done a couple of big parts in movies and I don't want to go in for a day's work on a TV show. Why do I need to?" They convinced me, "It's a good show, you should definitely read the script and check it out." So I read the script and I liked it."
Passing the audition with flying colors, Gries completed his one day of shooting, expecting then to move on to other projects.
"Then they said, "Next episode we