Murder Police (lost unreleased Fox animated sitcom; 2013)

Promotional poster of the series.

Status: Lost

Murder Police is an animated sitcom involving the police workforce, created by Jason Ruiz and David Goodman. In 2012, Fox TV commissioned a 13-episode order of Murder Police, which was set to air during the fall 2013-14 television season as a mid-season replacement, and then subsequently cancelled without airing a single episode.

Plot

According to various press releases, the show follows Manuel Sanchez (voiced by Jason Ruiz), a cop who aspires for excellence, but fails to solve crimes due to his co-workers' incompetence and his own clumsiness. He's partners with Tommy Margaretti (voiced by Will Sasso), who's a tough cop who "can’t interrogate a suspect without beating him up."

Other characters include Randall Hickox (voiced by Chi McBride) and his partner Justice (Jane Lynch), undercover cop Donel (Phil LaMarr), Captain John Rushour (Peter Atencio), Manuel's ex-wife, Rosa (Justina Machado). Wilmer Valderrama was originally part of the voice cast, but was replaced by Phil LaMarr later on.

Episode Guide

All episode titles are taken from the public catalog of the United States Copyright Office.

#	Title	Status
1	Where My Life App	Lost
2	Faux Woman, Faux Cry	Lost
3	Dog Day After Oops	Lost
4	Death of a Pervert	Lost
5	Roid Raid	Lost
6	The Newlymurdered Game	Lost
7	Shot Through the Heart	Lost
8	Dead in the Middle of Little Italy	Lost
9	I, Bro-Bot	Lost
10	Hug It Out	Lost
11	Daddy Issues	Lost
12	The Scientific Meth-Head	Lost
13	Meter Maid	Lost

Background

Before creating Murder Police, in 2009, animator Jason Ruiz originally developed a show named Fathers and Son to Fox through their Inkubation program, who ordered three shorts of it before giving the greenlight for a pilot to be produced. David A. Goodman, who executive produced Family Guy from 2005 to 2012, was to be the EP. A pilot was completed (apparently produced by the same animation team from King of the Hill), but was never ordered for a series.

Two years later, as part of a one-year overall deal with Fox, Jason Ruiz collaborated again with David Goodman in 2011 to develop Murder Police (then considered a working title), which Ruiz describes as "Scooby Doo [but they're] solving murders," and cited The First 48 as an inspiration.

On December 4, 2012, it was announced that Fox had picked up Murder Police for a 13-episode order, with a planned debut during the 2013-14 broadcast season. Kevin Reilly, Fox's Chairman of Entertainment, described it as "something we've never seen before ... these guys are taking a staple genre of television - the cop show - and turning it on its head by pushing the warped comedic boundaries that only animation can offer." Bento Box Animation would be producing. A year later, Emily Spivey was hired as the co-executive producer.

Fox announced that Murder Police would be part of their 2013-14 primetime television season, planning to join as a mid-season replacement, along with Us & Them and Surviving Jack, the latter of which would not complete its run on the network, and the former would not premiere on Fox altogether.

A San Diego Comic-Con panel was hosted on July 18, 2013, which unveiled a first look at the series, along with a fan Q&A session. They sold merchandise, including a pin of the police badge, a cap sporting the show's title, and a full-size poster. They held an autograph signing the same day.

Fate

Despite the efforts to publicize the series, TV Guide reported on October 3, 2013 that Fox would not be airing the series during the 2013-14 season. Insiders told TV Guide that Fox executives were reportedly not pleased with early cuts, and that the series would be attempted to be sold to cable instead.

Even though most have speculated that the series only got to the storyboard phase before cancelling production, the United States Copyright Office claims in their public catalog that all the episodes have been copied to Betacam SP tapes, meaning all episodes from the original 13-episode order are fully produced.

Overtime, the title sequence of Murder Police has leaked on YouTube in 2014, a year after the show was cancelled. Jason Ruiz would then create Royal Crackers for Adult Swim, which premiered on April 2, 2023.