It was in May when we reported that CBS had passed on the Beverly Hills Cop TV series adaptation, which Brandon T. Jackson was to star in as Axel Foley's (Eddie Murphy's) son.
I believe many of us foolishly thought the series was a lock for a pick-up, given the brand, and who was involved (notably Shawn Ryan and Eddie Murphy), as well as the fact that there was some serious competition from all 4 major networks for the series last year, with CBS emerging the winner of this new Beverly Hills Cop series. And it is in part due to that interest in the project from all 4 major networks, that it was also reported that the series wasn't entirely dead, and there was the possibility that it could end up on another network.
Skip ahead a couple of months to this past weekend when Ryan, who was to serve as showrunner, if CBS picked it up, posted the following to Twitter:
Sad to report that efforts to land Beverly Hills Cop pilot at another network have failed. This iteration is dead for now. (Cont...)
But then, maybe more interestingly, he added the following:
Good news for fans of franchise is that the pilot tested so well, it has caused Paramount to put another #BHC movie into development.
So, the TV series is dead, but the pilot tested very well that Paramount believes another Beverly Hills Cop movie would be a good idea, and have begun development on one.
How do you guys feel about that?
What I find interesting about this revelation is that, if the pilot tested as well as Ryan says it did, why did CBS pass on it, and why did no other network want it? What am I missing here? Is it that none of them could squeeze it into their lineups? But, again, if it tested so very well, you'd think they'd all be clamoring to get their hands on it, and make it fit somewhere in their schedules.
I'd love to see the pilot episode.
Described as an hour-long crime procedural with strong comedic elements, the TV series was to have a similar fish-out-of-water setup as the film, and would center on Axel Foley’s son, Aaron, a blue-collar police officer, trying to make a name for himself, absent of his prominent father's influence, and the criminals among the rich and famous in Beverly Hills he helps eliminate.
As for a 4th Beverly Hills Cop movie. You might remember that, last October, Eddie Murphy had pretty much buried the idea of a 4th movie, when he told Rolling Stone magazine in an interview that "none of the movie scripts were right; it was trying to force the premise. If you have to force something, you shouldn't be doing it. It was always a rehash of the old thing. It was always wrong."
In that same conversation, Eddie did add that, he was more interested in adapting the movie to TV, as a drama series.
So whether or not he'd be a major part of another movie remains to be seen.
The 3 films in the film franchise (which started out strong, but got successively worse) grossed over $735 million worldwide, and the first film was nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar in 1985. It was also Murphy's first full-fledged starring vehicle.
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I'm not sure how to feel about the rumours now that two networks have passed on it.