Eddie Murphy has been talking up a possible "Beverly Hills Cop 4" for several years now, but the comedian might skip the big screen entirely and take his massively popular police comedy to the small screen.

Vulture reported that Murphy has teamed with "The Shield" mastermind Shawn Ryan and Sony Pictures Television on a TV adaptation of the franchise that began in 1984. Broadcast networks reportedly started hearing the pitch from the team on Tuesday.

To sweeten the pot, not only is Murphy being touted as an executive producer, but he's also reportedly agreed to an on-camera role. The latter would mark the "Tower Heist" star's first non-animated regular starring turn on TV since his 1980-1984 career-making run on "Saturday Night Live."

In October, MTV News spoke to Murphy's "Heist" director [article id="197471"]Brett Ratner[/article]
, who said the pair were [article id="1652244"]"hoping"[/article]
 to get a [article id="1673209"]fourth film made[/article]
, but that Murphy wasn't sold on the idea. Ratner, in fact, had been talking up the re-boot for years, starting in 2009, when he promised that a fourth go-round would be a "hard R" reinvention that would salvage the tepid 1994 third installment that watered down some of the edge of Murphy's formerly foul-mouthed, wise-cracking Detroit cop Axel Foley.

At the same time Ratner was talking to MTV about his plans, Murphy had told Rolling Stone magazine that hopes for a fourth film were dead in the water because the script was just not right.

He did, however, leave the TV door open, saying, "what I'm trying to do now is produce a TV show starring Axel Foley's son, and Axel is the chief of police now in Detroit ... I'd do the pilot, show up here and there."

There are no details about the network pitch, so it's unclear how the project has evolved since Murphy first revealed his concept. Unnamed sources, however, said the series would be an hour-long crime procedural with a "buddy cop" theme and comedic elements.

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