Editing Early Edition (section)

== Cast and characters ==
{{main|List of Early Edition characters}}

===Main===
*[[Kyle Chandler]] as Gary Hobson
*[[Shanésia Davis-Williams]] as Marissa Clark
*[[Fisher Stevens]] as Chuck Fishman (seasons 1–2; guest, seasons 3–4)
*Panther, Pella, and Carl as The Cat<ref>{{cite web |url=http://earlydues.usanethosting.com/ee/faq/eefaq4.htm#4dot10 |title=Panther, Pella, and Carl as Cat |access-date=2008-03-08 |date=2000-12-03 |publisher=Early Dues' Early Edition}}</ref>
*[[Kristy Swanson]] as Erica Paget (season 3)
*Myles Jeffrey as Henry Paget (season 3)
*[[Billie Worley]] as Patrick Quinn (seasons 3–4)

===Recurring===
*[[Ron Dean]] as Detective Marion Zeke Crumb, who does a stint as Gary's bartender
*[[William Devane]] as Bernie Hobson, Gary's father, who's crazy about [[Gnocchi]]
*[[Tess Harper]] as Lois Hobson, Gary's mother
*[[Constance Marie]] as Detective Toni Brigatti
*[[Luis Antonio Ramos]] as Miguel Diaz
*[[Michael Whaley]] as Detective Paul Armstrong
*[[Fyvush Finkel]] as Phil Kazakian

=== Supporting characters ===
Chuck was a [[foil (literature)|foil]] to Gary, being a somewhat cynical, wisecracking realist in contrast to Gary's growing idealism. In early episodes, Chuck seeks to parlay the advance knowledge provided by the newspaper into windfall profits (e.g., sports betting and stock-market '[[insider trading]]'). Over time, however, he begins to take a role in helping and backing up Gary as a problem-solver.

Marissa often was the voice of reasonable conscience, balancing Gary's earnest idealism against Chuck's skeptical realism. Chuck also did the [[voice over]] narration at the opening and closing scenes of the episodes in season one, but this role would diminish during season two, save for a few episodes. Instead a standard line was used during opening credits, and a closing narration remained in a few episodes, but as season three progressed there was no narration for either the opening or closing scenes, and the episodes "Walk Don't Run" and "Deadline" had fictional ''Chicago Sun-Times'' columnist Molly Greene do the closing narration as part of her column.

Stevens's departure from the show after two seasons changed the dynamic of the show. The device of his voice-over narration was shifted to at first Gary and then Marissa in season three. This was eventually done away with, the theme music was changed, and there began a revolving door of foils for Gary, including Patrick Quinn ([[Billie Worley]]) and Erica Paget ([[Kristy Swanson]]). The latter had a romantic subplot with Gary. Stevens made several guest appearances on the show after leaving, and several of the characters stayed (such as the hard-boiled detective Crumb, and Gary's bartender Patrick).

===Guest stars===
During the series' run, ''Early Edition'' also featured many notable guest stars from television, feature films, and other entertainment industries.

Notable TV actors who appeared include [[Anna Chlumsky]], [[Fyvush Finkel]], [[Felicity Huffman]], [[Ken Jenkins]], [[Jane Krakowski]], [[Laura Leighton]], [[Robert Duncan McNeil]], [[Cynthia Nixon]], [[Pauley Perrette]], [[Robert Picardo]] and [[Michael Shannon]].

[[Academy Award]] winner [[Louis Gossett, Jr]] had a major role in the season two episode "The Medal".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0568478|title="Early Edition" The Medal (1996)|access-date=2010-06-16|publisher=Internet Movie Database}}</ref>

Former ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' publisher [[David Radler]] appeared several times as the publisher of the ''Sun-Times'', the newspaper that was delivered to Gary, while movie reviewer [[Roger Ebert]] made a cameo as himself. Other cameos include [[Tara Lipinski]], [[Coolio]], [[Tone Loc]], [[Dick Butkus]], [[Pat O'Brien (television)|Pat O'Brien]], and [[Martina McBride]].

There was a season two cross-over with ''[[Chicago Hope]]'' with [[Héctor Elizondo]], [[Jayne Brook]] and [[Rocky Carroll]] playing their characters from that show. Also during season three, CBS used an ''Early Edition'' episode as a promotional vehicle for the network's ''[[Martial Law (TV series)|Martial Law]]'' TV series starring martial arts expert [[Sammo Hung]].  In the fourth and final season, professional wrestlers [[Tommy Dreamer]] and [[New Jack]] guest starred in the episode "Mel Schwartz, Bounty Hunter". A season two episode ended with a colorized clip of [[Rod Serling]] informing viewers they had just watched a tale from ''[[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]''.