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 adequately in its time slot of 8 p.m. 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."