Plot: Detroit police officer Aaron Foley tries to establish himself while navigating the wealthy landscape of Beverly Hills, often with the help of his legendary father.
I’ve been curious about that never aired pilot for the Beverley Hills Cop TV series, but I recently found it on YouTube (above) and finally watched it.
After viewing it I can understand why it didn’t get picked up as it’s generic stuff and Eddie Murphy only really shows up as a cameo with his son Aaron (Brandon T. Jackson) taking over as the lead. I actually prefer him as a character to the daughter in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F from 2024, but that movie was better than this as Axel is the lead.
The show is at its best when Aaron and Axel are on screen together, especially trying to blag their way into a hotel which felt like classic Beverly Hills Cop.
Being a primetime television series there is no swearing and it all feels very tame and despite a few entertaining moments, it’s watered down and quite corny. Limiting Axel to a supporting role was a terrible idea as we’re not here to watch some other character take over. I hate it when they do that as Eddie Murphy is who we are here to see; he shows up at odd times then disappears for no reason which is frustrating. I do like that he has a good relationship with his son as the whole deadbeat dad thing has been done to death and was what I disliked about the 2024 movie.
Judge Reinhold does a cameo at the end as the mayor, which is a highlight and Kevin Pollack appears as the police lawyer, but it’s not all that funny as the script just needed to be sharper.
On the action front we get a few shoot-outs and a chase, and we also get the iconic Axel F theme tune which is awesome.
There was potential for this if Murphy was the main star and having him work closely with his son on cases, but having him just randomly show up felt cheap and disappointing.
Overall, the Beverly Hills Cop pilot is watchable, but I understand why it was ditched as having Eddie Murphy only show up in a limited capacity is a terrible idea and with no swearing it feels neutered and bland. It’s fun to watch as a curiosity, but I think we dodged a bullet here.