The Pretender takes "Centre" stage with the premiere of a new TNT original, The Pretender: The Island of the Haunted, which caps off a 17-hour marathon of past episodes and a replay of the made-for-TV movie The Pretender 2001 (6 pm/ET). The series, which aired on NBC from 1996 to 2000, chronicles the adventures of Jarod (Michael T. Weiss), an altruistic genius who assumes a variety of different identities to help folks in need. Jarod is also a man on the run, hunted by operatives from the Centre, a mysterious think tank that once held him prisoner.

In The Pretender: The Island of the Haunted, Jarod masquerades as Jarod Dodson, a New England-based "archaeosymbologist," which (according to the film) is a person who studies unexplainable symbols. Jarod is still searching for his mother, and he believes that an eerie symbol called "Crazy Eights" will help him understand his past. His quest takes him to Carthis, a spooky island off Scotland, where he encounters the Centre's shady Miss Parker (Andrea Parker), who (as always) is in hot pursuit. Jarod also runs into a peculiar sect of monks, meets a blind sage and, from a distance, gets a glimpse of his elusive mother.

Before long, a torrential storm drives the inhabitants from Carthis, leaving only Jarod and Miss Parker on the island. They form an unlikely alliance and get swept up in an adventure involving cryptic scrolls with a power "no man should encounter," a ghostly little girl, Miss Parker's dark family secrets and the devious machinations of the Centre. And how's this for a surprise: There's an undercurrent of romance as Jarod and Miss Parker overcome crisis after crisis.

But with or without the romance, The Island of the Haunted is a mess. It's a pretentious, meandering affair with a profusion of paranormal mumbo-jumbo and a confusing, convoluted plot. I'd be a pretender myself if I said I fully understood it.

Despite its shortcomings, the film does succeed in a few areas. In The Pretender 2001, Jarod was mopey and distant, but this time out, Weiss imbues the character with passion and some much-needed humor. Actress Parker is excellent (as usual) as the villainous Miss Parker. With a cold stare, defiant strut and sexy purr, she plays the role like a cat ready to pounce. Jon Gries is also back (but underused) as Broots, the Centre's geeky cyberwiz; Patrick Bauchau returns as Sydney, a Centre bigwig; Richard Marcus reprises his role as the mysterious Mr. Raines; and Harve Presnell once again plays Mr. Parker, who unfortunately is in a stupor through most of the film. It's almost as if he was forced to watch this needlessly complex TV-movie himself.