Caffeinated Clint
A “Beverly Hills Cop” TV series has been an idea that’s swam in its germy juices since, believe it or not, 1987. Before Paramount tapped Tony Scott to direct a movie sequel to the 1984 blockbuster, they’d actually tried to entice Eddie Murphy into starring in a TV spin-off of Martin Brest’s box-office hit instead. But Murphy, knowing a movie franchise would pay off much more handsomely, nixed the idea of bringing Axel Foley to the telly, instead opting to keep him strictly on the big screen.
All these years later, Murphy’s become seemingly more open to the idea of a “Cop” show – and with development on a fourth “Beverly Hills Cop” movie at a near standstill, no surprise.
Murphy is teaming with Sony Pictures Television and Shawn Ryan, the creator of “The Shield”, to do a small-screen “Cop” show.
The actor actually mentioned the possibility of a series late last year, stressing that it’d fix on Axel Foley’s son, also a cop. Murphy said he’d pop up here and there as Foley Senior.
Vulture, who broke the news of Sony and Ryan’s involvement today, says Murphy will indeed have an acting role on the show.
Our spies were only sure that the series is designed to be “a buddy cop show,” that it will be an hourlong crime procedural with strong comedic elements (hello, CBS!), and that Murphy would appear in the pilot and possibly a few special episodes throughout the first season.
As much as a “Cop” series ‘featuring’ Murphy excites me, I think part of the appeal of the movie franchise is Murphy’s foul-mouth and the film’s ridiculously over-the-top violence. On Television, are those elements even possible – especially on a free-to-air network?
And where does this leave “Beverly Hills Cop 4”, I wonder? Brett Ratner has long been attached to direct the third sequel which, at one stage, would’ve fixed on Axel Foley traveling to Beverly Hills to solve the murder of Judge Reinhold’s Billy Rosewood character. Guessing that since Ratner’s attached, and he likes to option and acquire stock like a rich broker, with no real immediate plans to utilize them, Murphy thinks there’s enough time to do a couple of seasons of a “Cop” TV show before anything even happens with the film franchise again.
