Is Axel Foley coming to the small screen?

Is Eddie Murphy going to bring Beverly Hills Cop back? A popular web-zine says he will, but with a different dynamic.

Vulture reports that Eddie Murphy and Shawn Ryan (creator of The Shield) are teaming up to pitch a TV series based on the hit comedy movies. While it might be interesting to see a much older Axel Foley tackle criminals again, the report says the show will instead focus on the exploits of the movie hero’s son.

Back in October, Murphy told Rolling Stone magazine about his intent to produce this show and play the elder Foley, who would appear as the Chief of Police in Detroit with his son as the main character.

Although Ryan is partnering up with Murphy on this venture, one would doubt that it is going to be a violent dirty-cop anti-hero show like The Shield. It is most likely to be a buddy-comedy-action cop show. Although the pedigree of the men in charge of this is quite stellar, that particular genre has had mixed results in the past. On the negative side, memories of Enos may be evoked here. Still, the show might be a Starsky & Hutch-type success or land somewhere in the middle, like Due South.

The big question, however, would be: who would play Axel’s son? Might the likes of Jaleel White or Don Glover be available?  Or, if the series takes a few more years to air a pilot, Dule Hill might be free when Psych ends as a series.