The Pretender - The Complete First Season

Finally! It is absolutely wonderful to finally have an entire season of this awesome show on DVD to be able to watch anytime. All accounts indicate this release of "The Pretender" on DVD is the best yet. The French fans got Season 1 with no special features...this edition has multiple commentaries and featurettes!! Not that you would need any bonus features to fully appreciate what great value you are getting with this package because all by itself it is good enough!Actors Michael T. Weiss, Andrea Parker, Jon Gries and Patrick Bachau shine in Season 1 of The Pretender.Michael T. Weiss as Jarod is the perfect genius who is on the run, but still manages to find time to help others. Michael's dramatic range is on full display as he slips into a new role for each episode. He's definitely "The Pretender."Andrea Parker (Less than Perfect/ABC) as Miss Parker is perfect as the head of the team who leads the chase for the genius, Jarod. She is explosive, unapologetic, beautiful and dangerous. And yet, you don't know the half of her! You will fall in love with Andrea's smouldering portrayal of Miss Parker.Patrick Bachau as Sydney and Jon Gries as Broots add the perfect elements to balance the tension and drama that surround the chase for Jarod, even as the secrets to the Centre's past unfold in every episode.The Pretender is one of the best series to ever premiere on NBC. If you have never seen it, now is your chance to own it and you will never regret it as you get drawn into the fascinating plot lines and learn more about the characters as the first season unfolds.The S1 season set is almost as perfect as Jarod the Pretender! The set contains all 21 episodes from the first season (Pilot included), two commentaries and a 3-part 'making of' featurette. The making-of featurette is short but still entertaining and insightful with comments by Michael T. Weiss (Jarod), Patrick Bachau (Sydney), Jon Gries (Broots) and the series' creators Steven Long Mitchell and Craig W. Van Sickle. Sadly comments by Andrea Parker are missing. The two episode commentaries include one for the pilot and one for the season finale. How apropos and delightful! This is the kind of DVD special feature that makes me rub my hands in glee!The episodes are all subtitled (English and Spanish) and closed-captioned, which I appreciate very much, and include English, French and Spanish audio!Also included in the DVD set are 5 original TV spots...very cool!! When they watch these, newbie fans will finally understand why Fox used that strange but familiar "who are you" music on the website for the Pretender S1 DVD!Artwork/galleries were excluded from this DVD set, but Fox did try its best to make up for that on the website. Perhaps they are being saved for future releases.In terms of the presentation of the DVD set, there are some things I would change/add:1) A 'play all' option for each disc/side (it boggles the mind that this was not included!)2) It would have been nice to have the 'making-of' featurette on a single disc side instead of spread over three sides3) Some kind of booklet/insert, even if it is single sheet but I suppose it was a cost-cutting strategy4) Some behind-the-scenes clips (I hope they will be included in future releases)Despite these minor shortcomings, this is a TV on DVD set that surpasses all expectations for TV on DVD releases, and will be a treasure to own for anyone who appreciates good television. If you have not had the pleasure of watching this show yet, you are missing out! Now I'm just waiting for the rest of the seasons and the two movies on DVD; and a third movie or a miniseries to wrap up all the storylines!For those who think having the episodes on double-sided discs is a shortcoming, I consider it a blessing because it kept the shipping cost down and I am sure it kept down other costs too. Besides which, there are many other DVD releases that come on double-sided discs, such as The Lord of the Rings. You just have to be a little more careful than with single-sided discs.

ONe of the best storyline tv shows ever made I beleive. Michale T. Weiss is a very talented actor. All of the actors are. It's a show about a boy named Jarod, they call him a Pretender because he can be whatever he wants to be. They saw this quality in him and took him from his parents as a child. It follows through Jarod's life as he escapes from the centre and tries to live a life pretending to be people in order to help those less fortunate, to try and give back what he helped destroy. He learned his 'simulations' were really sold to higher authorities and used to commit various crimes and injustices. So he goes around the world running from the Centre to help others leaving clues behind alos, while trying to find his real family and his mother. He keeps in touch with Sydney at the centre whom he looks to as a father figure, and they help each other in Jarod's search. Then comes Ms. Parker, whom Jarod actually grew up with, she's on the hunt to apease 'daddy' but in the midst of it all finds more lies than truths to throw her off Jarod's trail and onto the trail of her father and her mother's mysterious death Then you have Broots, the jelly-spined assistant that quivers under Parker's gaze and has a daughter of his own. Then you have Angelo, another pretender of the cemtre's an experiment that went wrong but he also grew up with Jarod and Ms. Parker, his love for cracker jacks and extremem knowledge of the centre's true bieng make him a very valuable character, there is one episode that involves Angelo that makes you want to cry...I did. No he doesn't die. And then there's Raines, the head cheeses of the whole puzzle. Each character is it's own piece in this puzzle that makes the Pretender and you follow each story each path and root for Jarod to finally find his mother. You meet other character's along the way, like Mr. Lyle, Bridgette, and Kyle, Jarod's real Brother. At times he gets so close to finding what he really seeks, but the closer he gets the more dangerous it becomes for all the character's involved as the dark secrets, and skeletons that make up the Centre start to truly reveal themselves. A truly remarkable show that never should have ended, and should have continued so the viewers could be put at ease. The show was cancelled after the premiere movie and never picked up...The movie ended like most the other shows and there was no clsure whateoever.Definate MUST SEE! If you buy one, you'll soon find out you have to buy them all!!

Hunky star.

Really enjoyed this series when it aired on TV years ago and enjoyed revisiting it.

Eine der hiesigen Rezensionen ist eindeutig deplatziert, denn die Edition, um die es hier geht, IST AUF DEUTSCH. The Pretender ist eine sehr gute Serie, an der sich auch Charaktere wie Patrick Jane aus "The Mentalist" ein wenig orientieren. Mit der Bildqualität kann man absolut leben, wenn man nicht HD-verwöhnt ist. Von grobkörnig und "Gries" kann nicht die Rede sein.Zum Inhalt ist schon einiges geschrieben worden. Dennoch: Was die Serie unter anderem auszeichnet, ist, dass die Hauptcharaktere relativ früh ihre Vielschichtig zeigen. Da ist das Genie Jarod, der mit ein paar Wochen Übung jeden erdenklichen Beruf überzeugend und nahezu professionell ausüben kann. Er nutzt sein Talent, um ungesühnte Verbrechen aufzuklären. Typisch für sein Vorgehen ist dabei, dass er die Verbrecher, welche er aus dem Verkehr zieht, ihre eigene Medizin zu schlucken gibt. Jemand, der einen anderen verbrennen ließ, lässt er glauben, er müsse nun selbst verbrennen usw. Auf der anderen Seite hatte Jarod keine Kindheit und entdeckt nun als Erwachsener Speiseeis, Kaugummis, Spielzeuge u.a. Dinge, an denen er ein großes Vergnügen empfindet. Er leidet mit den Opfern und entwickelt eine starke persönliche Wut auf die Täter.Miss Parker als vorläufige Haupt-Kontrahentin ist einerseits die knallharte, kettenrauchende Verfolgerin, die Jarod als "Freak", "Monster" und "Soziopathen" sieht, andereseits zeigt auch sie ihre Unsicherheit und Verletzlichkeit. Das Katz-und-Maus-Spiel, das Pendeln zwischen Faszination, Sympathie und Antipathie gegenüber Jarod ist ein festes Element der Serie.Die kleineren Regie-Fehler finde ich durchaus verzeihlich, da sie schon wahre Klassiker sind (gestochen scharfe Bilder von Viren in einem Licht[!]-Mikroskop, Anwendung eines Defibrillators bei Herzstillstand und ähnliches).Es bleibt zu hoffen, dass die weiteren Staffeln ebenfalls auf Deutsch (vor allem aber mit entsprechenden Länder-Code) erscheinen werden.

Je ne sais pas si tout cela est crédible1 - Jarod n'est pas un génie, il ne crée rien par exemple à la manière d'un artiste mais c'est un surdoué, il pige très vite et passe d'une activité à une autre, très au dessus du niveau ordinaire.2 - Le centre agit sans contrainte, kidnappant au détriment des familles, supprimant, emprisonnant, tout cela semblant se déroulant sans contradiction fédérale, dans les derniers épisodes de cette saison 1, le FBI se joint même aux chasseurs.Mais peu importe, la série est une des plus réussies : le rôle du fugitif (autre série réussie aussi) auquel s'ajoute le véritable phénomène : Jarod le surdoué.Donc multiples rebonds de situations garanties: à noter que le titre français est vraiment bien choisi : Le Caméleon, c'est mieux que The pretender.Partie prenante de la série, les chasseurs, le trio de personnages récurrents : la belle et sexy mais passablement irritable miss Parker, Sydney, psychiatre, lui est plus humain et reste un lien conciliant avec son ex élève, quand à Broots, informaticien,il est terrorisé par miss Parker et est aussi gentil que timoré.Sans oublier le père de la belle chasseuse, personnage équivoque, et enfin Raines est aussi cruel et sans foi ni loi que quelque Dark Vador.D'autres membres de la famille interviennent aussi sans oublier les "nettoyeurs" (terme éloquent).Oui !, la série du fait même de la poursuite et des facultés de Jarod est captivante, amusante au gré des épisodes, du moins pour les premières saisons, la fin sera un peu tirée par les cheveux comme bâclée ou n'arrivant pas à en finir.Cette première saison elle n'est jamais lassante, indémodable.

parce que c'est méritéj'ai particulièrement aimé les personnages et leur propre histoire et l'aide que leur apporte jarod c'est très altruiste