Why The Beverly Hills Cop TV Show Never Happened, According To The Director

The year 2024 brought us a long-awaited fourth installment of the “Beverly Hills Cop” franchise. Led by Eddie Murphy, the action comedy film series began back in 1984, with the comedian and “Saturday Night Live” veteran playing smart-ass Detroit cop Axel Foley, who follows a case that takes him to the upscale Los Angeles locale, where he inevitably stirs up trouble. Riding a wave of stardom thanks to big screen roles in “48 Hrs.” and “Trading Places,” Murphy became a big screen phenomenon after “Beverly Hills Cop,” as he took the lead for the first time and sparked a box office success that resulted in a trilogy of films (though each was worse than its predecessor).

Despite the decline in quality, with “Beverly Hills Cop 3” being an atrocious addition to the franchise, fans still wanted to see what Axel Foley might be up to after all these years. They finally got their wish with “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” and it was a solid return for the franchise, though it didn’t reach the greatness achieved by the original. However, did you know there was once a “Beverly Hills Cop” sequel that would have unfolded in the form of a TV series?

Back in 2012, CBS ordered a pilot for a “Beverly Hills Cop” TV series that starred “Tropic Thunder” actor Brandon T. Jackson as Axel Foley’s son, who had become a cop himself. Eddie Murphy was on board to produce and at least appear in the pilot episode, with the hope of intermittently making a guest star appearance here and there. “Men in Black” director Barry Sonnenfeld directed the pilot, but CBS never picked it up to series. Why?

Well, Eddie Murphy previously explained that the issue was CBS wanted him to appear more often than he was anticipating. Back in 2019, Murphy said, “[CBS] thought that I was going to be in this show, because [the lead] was my son. ‘And you’re going to pop in every now and then.’ I was like, ‘I ain’t popping in s***.'”

However, when we recently spoke with Barry Sonnenfeld in support of his new book out today, “Best Possible Place, Worst Possible Time: True Stories from a Career in Hollywood,” he provided more details as to why the “Beverly Hills Cop” TV series wasn’t ordered.

For Sonnenfeld’s part, he loved the experience of working on the “Beverly Hills Cop” TV series, but it didn’t come without hurdles. For example, Murphy, who has been known to be difficult to work with on occasion, was not willing to dip back into his usual comedic antics as Axel Foley. Sonnenfeld told /Film about meeting with Murphy before shooting the pilot:

“Eddie said, ‘Listen, if you think I’m going to do all those Eddie Murphy things, like go [imitates Axel Foley’s distinctive laugh] and all those other things, I’m not going to do any of that s.’ So I said, ‘Okay, Eddie, it was a pleasure meeting you. Thanks. I’ll see myself out.’ And he said, ‘That’s the entire interview?’ And I said, ‘Well, I was going to talk to you about when we should do any key moments from the ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ movies, but if you don’t want to do any of those, there’s really nothing to talk about. But thanks for your time. I’ll see you on the set.’ I started to go, and he said, ‘Hey, can I ask you a question?’ I said, ‘Yeah, sure, Eddie.’ And he said, ‘Why the f are you directing this thing?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m a big fan.’ And I left.”

That doesn’t sound like Murphy was too keen on reprising one of his signature characters. But the way Sonnenfeld explains it, perhaps Murphy was just trying to puff up his chest and be a big Hollywood star. The director continued:

“So it’s the first day we’re shooting, and I’m on the set with Eddie. We set up the scene, and Eddie’s supposed to pop up from behind a car, and Brandon, who played Eddie’s son, is supposed to see him, and I would have hoped that Eddie would have gone [imitates Axel’s laugh]. But of course, he said he wouldn’t, so I’m curious what he’s going to do. I say ‘roll camera,’ Eddie stands up, and goes [imitates Axel’s laugh]. And Eddie, the whole time, did everything I would have wanted him to do, but he said he wasn’t going to do!”

For his part, Sonnenfeld said working with Eddie Murphy on the show was a great experience, and he felt the pilot turned out “really, really good.” 

So, what happened after the pilot was shot? Well, it sounds like you can blame a star who maybe didn’t have the chops to lead a network TV series, as well as corporate pettiness between a TV network and a movie studio.

Once the pilot was completed, why didn’t CBS pick it up to series? What went wrong? Well, apparently one of the issues came from the show’s star. According to Sonnenfeld, Brandon T. Jackson (seen above in the NBC series “Mr. Robinson”) was not ready to lead a primetime network series. Sonnenfeld put it bluntly:

“Brandon T. Jackson was not good enough to be the starring actor in that show. In fact, there was one night where we were shooting a scene with Brandon and Eddie at a hotel where they’re doing some reconnaissance. Eddie is hilarious — he’s ad-libbing, he’s riffing. And instead of Brandon letting Eddie go, he tries to compete with Eddie and interrupts him and says something funny. Again, [for an ideal] comedy, [you need] one funny guy in the scene, one straight man in the scene. You’ve got Eddie Murphy being hilarious, the other guy better just shut up and react. Brandon kept ruining takes, and I took him aside and said, ‘Brandon, just listen to him and react. He’s hilarious.’ He goes, ‘My fans don’t want to see Eddie Murphy. They want to see Brandon T. Jackson.’ I said, ‘You know what, I have a feeling that in this scene, they really want to see Eddie Murphy.'”

If you look at the work Brandon T. Jackson has done since the pilot was completed, though he’s been working regularly as an actor, he hasn’t become a bona fide star, so there must be some truth to Sonnenfeld’s assessment. Plus, if you watch the “Beverly Hills Cop” pilot, which leaked on YouTube, you’ll see for yourself that the show gets renewed life when Murphy shows up, and it’s just fine otherwise. For the series to be successful, it would have needed a lot more Murphy than he was willing to provide.

But that wasn’t the only problem. It turns out there was a spat between CBS and Paramount Pictures, despite both being owned by Viacom.

Sonnenfeld went on to explain the other problem, which basically comes down to good old-fashioned Hollywood egos. The director elaborated:

“The other issue is CBS and Paramount were both owned by the same Viacom conglomerate. The [then-]head of CBS, Les Moonves, was in a pissing contest with the head of Paramount, who was Tom Freston. Les Moonves literally didn’t pick up a pilot called ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ co-starring Eddie Murphy — in part because of Brandon, and Eddie wasn’t guaranteeing how much he was going to be in the series or not. I will say, if you want to give Les credit for anything, he didn’t know if Eddie would be around enough. But it was really about not giving Tom Freston the hubris, the joy, the victory of having Eddie Murphy star in a television show, and we literally were not picked up. And it was a really, really good pilot … and Eddie was really good in it, and he was playing that guy, you know?”

Murphy was good in the “Beverly Hills Cop” pilot, and he’s previously cited test audiences loving the moments when he showed up. But since he wasn’t willing to dedicate more time to appearing on the show, that was just enough to make it a little less appealing. If Murphy agreed to have a more significant guest starring role, maybe we’d have seen the pilot get retooled with a different lead and find success. But in the end, “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” gave us plenty of Axel Foley and scratched that 1980s itch well enough. 

If you want to hear more fascinating and hilarious Hollywood anecdotes from Barry Sonnenfeld, such as the woes of working with John Travolta, be sure to listen to our full interview with the filmmaker on today’s episode of /Film Daily below, and check out his book, “Best Possible Place, Worst Possible Time: True Stories from a Career in Hollywood,” available everywhere now. 

BY ETHAN ANDERTON

John Amos, Most Famously known For ‘Good Times’, Passes Away At 84

John Amos, the TV writer turned Emmy-nominated actor who starred as the stoic father on Good Times before he was fired from the landmark sitcom for admittedly letting his temper get the best of him, has died. He was 84.

Amos died Aug. 21 in Los Angeles of natural causes, his son, Kelly Christopher Amos, announced.

“It is with heartfelt sadness that I share with you that my father has transitioned,” he said in a statement. “He was a man with the kindest heart and a heart of gold… and he was loved the world over. Many fans consider him their TV father. He lived a good life. His legacy will live on in his outstanding works in television and film as an actor.”

Amos, who played football at Colorado State University and had training camp tryouts with the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League, saw his showbiz career take off after he landed a gig to play WJN-TV weatherman Gordy Howard on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

The New Jersey native received his Emmy nom for portraying Toby, the older version of Kunta Kinte, on the acclaimed 1977 ABC miniseries Roots, and he had a recurring role as Admiral Percy Fitzwallace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on NBC’s West Wing.

His career on the big screen began with Melvin Van Peebles’ blaxploitation classic Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971), and he played the manager of a McDonald’s-like restaurant who hires an African prince (Eddie Murphy) and his right-hand man (Arsenio Hall) in Coming to America (1988).

Many years earlier, Amos had been in the McDonald’s training program before appearing as an employee for the fast-food chain in a well-known 1971 commercial (“Grab a bucket and mop, scrub the bottom and top!”) that he said helped put his kids through college.

After showing up a dozen times as the good-natured Gordy on the first four seasons of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, the barrel-chested Amos was invited to read for the part of James Evans Sr., the husband of Esther Rolle’s Florida Evans and father of their three kids, on a new CBS series, Good Times.

The 1974-79 show, created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans and developed by Norman Lear, was set in an inner-city Chicago apartment located in the projects (think Cabrini-Green). A spinoff of Maude (itself a descendant of All in the Family), Good Times was the first sitcom to center on an African-American family.

“Everybody knew who Norman Lear was,” Amos said in a 2014 interview for the TV Academy Foundation. “I’d seen the pilot episode of All in the Family and thought, ‘There’s no way in the world they’re going to put that on television.’ … Sure enough, it became a hit.

“So I went in and read with Miss Rolle for Norman Lear, with just the three of us in his office. When we finished the reading, Norman looked at Esther, and Esther looked at me and looked at Norman and said, ‘He’ll do just fine.’ “

Amos starred on the show for three seasons, but he soon objected to the silly, stereotypical storylines that surrounded their oldest son on the series, J.J. — played by the comic Jimmie Walker — and he went public with his criticism.

“We had a number of differences,” he said. “I felt too much emphasis was being put on J.J. in his chicken hat, saying ‘Dy-no-mite!’ every third page. I felt just as much emphasis and mileage could have been gotten out of my other two children, one of whom aspired to become a Supreme Court justice, played by Ralph Carter, and the other, BernNadette Stanis, who aspired to become a surgeon.

“But I wasn’t the most diplomatic guy in those days, and [the show’s producers] got tired of having their lives threatened over jokes. So they said, ‘Tell you what, why don’t we kill him off? We can get on with our lives!’ That taught me a lesson — I wasn’t as important as I thought I was to the show or to Norman Lear’s plans.”

James Evans Sr. was the victim of a car accident in a two-part episode that aired in September 1976 to kick off season four.

John Alan Amos Jr. was born on Dec. 27, 1939, in Newark, New Jersey. His father drove a tractor-trailer and worked as a mechanic, and his mother, Annabelle, was a housekeeper who eventually went back to school and became a nutritionist.

His mom cleaned the home of a cartoonist who drew for the Archie comics, and that led to Amos and a buddy attending a taping of radio’s The Archie Show at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. “It blew my imagination wide open,” he said.

“I was disappointed in a way, because none of them looked like Archie or Jughead or Veronica … Some of the magic disappeared, but the science of the industry became apparent to me.”

At East Orange High School, Amos drew cartoons and wrote columns for the school newspaper, played a convict in a production of The Man Who Came to Dinner and was a star running back.

Amos won football scholarships to Long Beach City College in California and then Colorado State University, where the Rams had the longest losing streak in the nation at the time.

“God kept telling me, ‘I don’t want you playing football,’ ” he said. “The direction I was getting from above was to be a performer, to be a writer, something that I had always done and came easy for me.”

Still, Amos did not give up his dream of playing pro football, signing his first free-agent contract with the Broncos. (One of his training camp teammates was Ernie Barnes, whose painting, Sugar Shack, appeared in the opening credits of Good Times.)

Amos played or tried out to play with many teams, including the Norfolk Neptunes of the Continental Football League and the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League.

After the Chiefs cut him for a second time, Coach Hank Stram allowed him to read a poem about shattered dreams to the players — and he received a standing ovation. “It was the first confirmation I got from my peers that I could write material that could evoke emotions in people,” he said. “It was very gratifying, much more so than running off-tackle or trying to pick up a blitz.”

(Amos would play a retired player struggling with injuries from his NFL days on the HBO series Ballers.)

In Vancouver, Amos did stand-up and met a television writer who encouraged him to come to Los Angeles, where he landed a writing and performing job on a syndicated TV variety show hosted by radio personalities Al Lohman and Roger Barkley. (Also getting their starts on that program: McLean Stevenson, Craig T. Nelson and Barry Levinson.)

That in turn led to work writing and performing in sketches on the 1969 CBS variety program The Leslie Uggams Show. Two producers there, Lorenzo Music and Dave Davis, were helping to develop a series for Mary Tyler Moore and thought he’d be great for that.

“They could very easily have said, ‘Well, [Gordy] can be a sports announcer.’ That would have been [as easy as] falling off a log for me,” he recalled. “I liked the fact that he was a meteorologist; that implied the man could think.”

On the 1973-74 season of Maude, Amos appeared on three episodes as Florida’s husband, setting up the launch of Good Times.

James Evans struggled to find full-time work, but “he provided for his family with any job that he could find. We managed to survive, and America loved that show. It was close to how most Americans lived at that time.”

In his 2014 TV Academy Foundation interview, Amos got emotional when he noted that he had “young men, in their 30s and 40, of every ethnicity imaginable, come up to me and say, ‘You’re the dad I never had.’”

After he left Good Times, Lear’s company hired him to play a congressman on the pilot for a new show called Onward and Upward. But he would quit that project as well.

Amos had traveled several times to Africa, including living for months at a time in Liberia “to absorb the culture of the continent that I had come from, indirectly,” when he was approached to appear in Roots.

“It was just what I needed,” he said. “It took the bad taste of Good Times out of my mouth — not that Good Times had been all bad, but the circumstances under which I left and the acrimony between Norman Lear and myself … I realize that a lot of it I brought on myself. I was not the easiest guy in the world to get along with, or to direct. I challenged any and everybody. [Roots] was a vindication, a tremendous feeling of satisfaction.”

He and Lear eventually got over it, and Amos starred for the producer in a short-lived 1994 sitcom, 704 Hauser, about a liberal family living in Archie Bunker’s former house in Queens.

Amos also had recurring roles on other TV shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, on which he played Will Smith’s stepfather; Hunter; The District; Men in Trees; All About the Andersons, as Anthony Anderson’s dad; and the Netflix drama The Ranch.

His film résumé also included The World’s Greatest Athlete (1973), Let’s Do It Again (1975), The Beastmaster (1982), Die Hard 2 (1990), Ricochet (1991), Mac (1992), Night Trap (1993), For Better or Worse (1995), The Players Club (1998), Coming to America 2 (2021) and Because of Charley (2021).

In 1972, he appeared on Broadway in Tough to Get Help, directed by Carl Reiner.

When he found it tough to get work in the 1990s, Amos wrote and starred in the one-man play Halley’s Comet, about an 87-year-old man who ruminates about the state of the world while he waits in the woods for the coming of “the comet.” He toured all over the U.S. and in several overseas cities with the play for more than two decades.

In addition to his son, K.C. (nicknamed for Amos’ days with the Chiefs), survivors include his daughter, Shannon, both from his first marriage to Noel “Noni” Mickelson. THR’s Gary Baum wrote his kids’ acrimonious relationship in November.

Amos also was briefly married to actress Lillian Lehman, who played Andre Braugher’s mother on Men of a Certain Age.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Kevin Hart Pops Up At Usher’s Concert Trying to Sing Onstage

Kevin Hart appeared to have attempted to show off his singing skills in front of a packed audience. The “Fatherhood” actor hilariously popped up at Usher‘s concert trying to deliver a song onstage.

Recently, the R&B icon entertained his fans at his show, which was a part of his “Usher: Past Present Future” tour. When he was not on the stage, his comedian friend Kevin took his place. Kevin confidently walked to the center of the stage and carried a standing microphone.

Once he got closer to the audience, Kevin took off his sleeveless white top, proudly flaunting his toned abs. His unexpected move prompted concertgoers to scream out loud and laugh. He then told the concertgoers that he was “about to sing.” He exclaimed, “Let’s f**king go!”

Kevin began to sing Usher’s song “Nice & Slow”, “It’s seven o’ clock on the dot/ I’m in my drop top, cruisin’ the streets, oh yeah.” In the meantime, Usher was walking towards Kevin, who was sporting a similar outfit to that of the singer.

Kevin turned around and asked, “What the f**k are you doing?” acting as if Usher disturbed his show. Usher replied, “What the f**k are YOU doing?” Kevin said, “B***h I told you I’m about to come up here and sing a song.”

In response, Usher stated, “I said no!” Confused, Kevin said, “I thought you said go. I thought you said go,” leading Usher to shake his head. Meanwhile, the concertgoers were bursting into laughter while watching the two famous figures arguing on the stage.

Usher insisted, “No, I said no!” Kevin reiterated, “B***h I thought you said go!” The comedian went on to hint that he did not want to get off the stage since he “took my shirt off.” He demanded Usher to let him “finish the song.”

Despite Kevin’s request, Usher told the actor to leave the stage. While walking away, Kevin sang the lyrics before saying, “You’re so f**king jealous. You know what they wanted. They wanted this, n***a!” referring to his abs.

Damon Wayans Jr. Makes His Debut In First ‘Shrinking’ Season 2 Trailer

Brett Goldstein and Damon Wayans Jr. officially debut in the Season 2 trailer of Apple TV+’s hit therapist dramedy “Shrinking.” The new video shows the cast willing and ready to confront their biggest fears.

“If you don’t truly deal with your past, it’s going to come back for you,” Harrison Ford, who plays Dr. Paul Rhoades in the series, says in a voiceover for a scene of Jimmy (Jason Segel) looking into police lights.

The next shot shows Jimmy in awe of several police cars and ambulance trucks, a sign that the next season will likely center on more details surrounding Tia’s (Lilan Bowden) tragic and fatal car accident.

The biggest surprise comes toward the end of the trailer. Fans get a sneak peek of “Shrinking” co-creator Goldstein and cast newbie Damon Wayans Jr. joining the team. Goldstein appears to be working at a local cafe or shop, while Wayans may become a love interest of Gaby’s (Jessica Williams). The entire season will likely pick back up right where it left off as Jimmy juggles grief while working through his unconventional therapeutic tactics. Along with Goldstein and Wayans, “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” star Vernee Johnson has also joined the show.

The 12-episode second season of “Shrinking” premieres globally on Apple TV+ with its first two episodes on Wednesday, Oct. 16, followed by one new episode weekly, every Wednesday until Dec. 25. The full cast includes Segel, Ford, Williams, Christa Miller, Luke Tennie, Michael Urie, Lukita Maxwell and Ted McGinley.

Here’s Apple TV+’s description of the series: “‘Shrinking’ follows a grieving therapist (played by Segel) who starts to break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks. Ignoring his training and ethics, he finds himself making huge, tumultuous changes to people’s lives … including his own.”

The series is produced for Apple TV+ by Warner Bros. Television, where Bill Lawrence and Goldstein are under overall deals, and Lawrence’s Doozer Productions. Lawrence, Segel, Goldstein, Neil Goldman, James Ponsoldt, Jeff Ingold, Liza Katzer, Randall Keenan Winston, Annie Mebane, Rachna Fruchbom and Brian Gallivan all serve as executive producers.

“Shrinking” Season 2 premieres Oct. 16 on Apple TV+. Season 1 is currently available to stream.