The proposed series has a similar fish-out-of-water setup and centers on Axel Foley’s blue-collar police officer son, Aaron, who helps take down the criminal elements of the rich and famous in Beverly Hills while trying to escape the shadow of his larger-than-life father.
Sound good so far? Well, thankfully, it gets better.
When you hear about movies being made in to TV series it’s normally a cause for concern. Someone buys the franchise and takes it in a completely different direction from where the films looked to be heading. The three Beverly Hills Cop movies were sheer 80s class with an amazing theme tune to boot (until those crazy frog w#@kers got hold of it). Following a Detroit cop with a big mouth Axel Foley who, for various reasons, finds himself in the midst of high society and investigating crimes in the heart of Beverly Hills. And, if the description above is to be believed, it would appear that we are in for a weekly dose of the same thing.
So, as far as I can find out the basic premise of the series sees Axel Foley’s son, Aaron, trying to escape from being in his father’s shadow by joining a police force (not a good start). Instead of patrolling the mean streets of Detroit, like his father, he works the Beverly Hills area, assumingly arresting people for using someone’s pool without permission, or using the wrong fork over dinner.
The pilot, to be shown by CBS, will feature Eddie Murphy reprising his role as daddy Foley and will make regular cameos if the pilot is successful. The other cast slots still appear to be up for grabs. Rumors of people in line for the lead, Axel’s son Aaron, include Saturday Night Lives Jay Pharoah among others. There is still no word on whether Eddies movie co-stars, Judge Reinhold and John Ashton, will make an appearance.
Show running, writing and fifty percent of production duties fall to, seemingly greedy, creator of The Shield Shawn Ryan, which is the first bit of good news. The second would be that the other fifty percent of production duties will be taken up by Axel Foley himself–Eddie Murphy. Hopefully, with Murphy on board, most of the feel of original movies can be captured in the series which would make it worth a watch. If it’s too different it will be rubbish and upset a lot of people. We shall see.
About Jay Martin
Jay has been nerdy now for a little under 30 years, so it was only natural for him to aide others in their neediness through his writing. A big fan of comics, movies, TV, music, toys and anything else his pay check will stretch too, this Star Wars addict has an impressive collection of lightsabers and is currently working his way through the extended universe novels in order. If you like your reviews with a healthy dose of sarcasm he is the man for you.
