The Pretender TV series ran from 1996 to 2000 on NBC. Michael T. Weiss starred as Jarod, a boy-genius taken from his family as a child. Jarod possesses the ability to quickly learn and impersonate different jobs and occupations. Jarod has escaped from his abductors, a secret organization known as The Centre, and they want him back.

After four years on NBC, The Pretender went into syndication on TNT. TNT co-produced two Pretender movies with Twentieth Century Fox TV, The Pretender 2001 and The Pretender: Island of the Haunted.