Cutting Edge

Cutting Edge is an American animated sitcom created by animator/writer Mark Pellaro, premiering on September 20, 1993 on CBS and ending on May, TBD, 2005, in this semi-improvised show, the show follows the trials and tribulations of Jack Marcher (Richie Boutman), a 40-year-old barber who owns and works at Marcher Cuts, a barbershop in Manhattan; New York City, where famous comedians and actors get their haircut, he also must balance his job and day-to-day life while also raising two children: 16-year-old lazy slacker Jason, and 8-year-old ditz Sawyer.

The show was pitched as far back as 1991, based on Mark's 1990 animated short film Jack, Who Works At A Barbershop, CBS executives saw the short film and had potential in Mark, they later asked Mark to come up with a brilliant idea of adapting his short film into an animated television series, Mark later made a script for CBS, after reviewing the script, it was later accepted.

The animation for the show is done by an American animation studio known as Magicmation (known from until 2001 as Magicmation Incorporated), the animation is done in a crude style, in a 1994 interview, Mark stated that the animation is chosen after a Sprite commercial (also done by Magicmation) aired, as he loved the crude animation style.

The show premiered on September 20, 1993, receiving mixed reviews at first due to the semi-improvisation, crude animation, and writing (later gaining positive reviews a few years later when it came out on home media), after the second episode, it received more positive reviews for it's writing, characters, the experimentation of improvisation, experimental animation, and genuine heartfelt moments, the show became more popular as time grew on.

On December 11, 2004, it was announced the show would end after 12 seasons, the reason being is due to the creators wanting to explore other projects, in a 2005 interview, Mark stated that the show was gonna "die in the 2000s anyway", the show's 42-minute finale ("The Last Cut") aired on May, TBD, 2005, with a high rating of 16.03, the episode is also dedicated to Jason's voice actor Mitch Hedberg, who died of a drug overdose 2 months before the finale.

The show continues to be popular to this day, examples include home media, memes, fanclubs, and more, the show continues to be streamed on Hulu, and Paramount+, reruns for the show aired in syndication from 1997-2009, and on Comedy Central from 2005-2012.

Premise
Set in Manhattan; New York City follows single everyman Jack Marcher, a 40-year-old barber who owns and works at Marcher Cuts, a barbershop where famous comedians and actors get their haircuts, he must also balance day-to-day life and his job while taking care of two children: 16-year-old lazy, incompetent, manchildish, slacker Jason, and ditzy, dumb, naive, but nice and kind 8-year-old Sawyer, and dealing with two friends: his bad-advice dumb best friend Jon, and his platonic sassy friend Jennifer.

Main:

 * Richie Boutman as Jack Mark Carl Marcher, a 40-year-old everyman who owns and works at his owned-and-operated barbershop Marcher Cuts, he is an everyman who is sensible and friendly, but can be shown to be stubborn at times.
 * Mitch Hedberg as Jason Marcher, a 16-year-old manchildish slacker who is the son of Jack and the older brother of Sawyer, he is lazy, incompetent, and manchildish who slacks off his chores, roams around the house, and constantly watches television, hence the pop culture references he spews out, despite this and his sibling rivalry with Sawyer, Jason is shown to be the "cool kid of the house", he also tried to get multiple jobs that was forced by his father that seem to fail, including his father's job.
 * Tress MacNeille as Sawyer Marcher, an 8-year-old who is the son of Jack and the younger brother of Jason, he can be ditzy and naive, but is shown to be nice and kind.
 * Jon Lovitz as Jon, Jack's bad-advice, dumb, and conspiracy theorist best friend who gives out bad advice to Jack, according to a 1994 interview, Mark said he was inspired by Kramer from Seinfeld.
 * Jennifer Mary Wartz as Jennifer, Jack's platonic sassy friend, while sassy and sometimes an outright jerk, she cares a lot about Jack.

Supporting:

 * Bob Saget as Alex Bennigan, Jack's rival who owns a barbershop a few blocks down called Cut The Chord, where famous musicians go to get their haircut, he was formerly in a rock band called The Rocker Feller, he is sardonic, cynical, and rude to Jack.
 * Untitled female character
 * Gilbert Gottfried as Sal "Uncle Sal" Marcher, Jack's brother and uncle of Jason and Sawyer who constantly wants money from Jack and is a bad influence on both of Jack's sons. (e.g not doing anything to get Jason off the couch and getting him a job, or him taking Sawyer on an adventure to a getaway island without telling Jack), his catchphrase is "It's your pal, Uncle Sal!".
 * TBA

Episodes
List of Cutting Edge episodes

Tropes
List of Cutting Edge tropes