View source for Murder Police (lost unreleased Fox animated sitcom; 2013)

{{InfoboxLost
|image=murder police poster.png
|imagecaption=Promotional poster of the series.
|status=<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span>
}}
'''''Murder Police''''' is an animated sitcom created by Jason Ruiz and David Goodman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. 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 to excellence but fails to solve crimes due to his co-workers' incompetence and his own clumsiness. He 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), and their son Mario (Ruiz).<ref>https://deadline.com/2013/05/fox-2013-14-schedule-comedy-block-and-bones-on-friday-sleepy-hollow-monday-497383/</ref> Wilmer Valderrama was originally part of the voice cast, but was replaced by Phil LaMarr later on.<ref>https://givememyremote.com/remote/2013/05/13/murder-police-wilmer-valderrama-exits-the-animated-series/</ref>

==Episode Guide==
All episode titles are taken from the public catalog of the United States Copyright Office.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! style="background-color:lightblue" |#
! style="background-color:lightblue" |Title
! style="background-color:lightblue" |Status
|-
|1||Where My Life App||<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''
|-
|2||Faux Woman, Faux Cry||<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''
|-
|3||Dog Day After Oops||<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''
|-
|4||Death of a Pervert||<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''
|-
|5||Roid Raid||<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''
|-
|6||The Newlymurdered Game||<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''
|-
|7||Shot Through the Heart||<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''
|-
|8||Dead in the Middle of Little Italy||<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''
|-
|9||I, Bro-Bot||<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''
|-
|10||Hug It Out||<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''
|-
|11||Daddy Issues||<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''
|-
|12||The Scientific Meth-Head||<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''
|-
|13||Meter Maid||<span style="color:red;">'''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 green light for a pilot to be produced. David A. Goodman, who executive produced ''Family Guy'' from 2005 to 2012, was to be the EP. A 10-minute pilot presentation was completed (apparently produced by the same animation team as ''King of the Hill''), but was never ordered for a series.<ref>https://variety.com/2009/scene/markets-festivals/guy-s-goodman-reups-at-fox-tv-1118009910/</ref>

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.<ref>https://hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/animator-jason-ruiz-inks-20th-210153/</ref>

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.<ref>http://thefutoncritic.com/news/2012/12/04/fox-books-murder-police-with-13-episode-order-707312/20121204fox01/</ref> A year later, Emily Spivey was hired as the co-executive producer.<ref>https://deadline.com/2013/02/up-all-night-creator-emily-spivey-inks-overall-deal-with-20th-century-fox-tv-436636/</ref>

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.<ref>http://thefutoncritic.com/news/2013/05/13/fox-announces-primetime-slate-for-2013-2014-season-254005/20130513fox01/</ref>

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, which revealed that Bon Jovi and Fred Willard were cast to be guest stars. 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.<ref>http://thefutoncritic.com/news/2013/07/11/fox-fanfare-is-at-comic-con-2013-646410/20130711fox01/</ref><ref>https://bubbleblabber.com/2013/07/sdcc-2013-cartoon-notes-day-1-southpark-and-murderpolicefox/</ref>

==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 shopped to cable networks instead.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20131008172332/http://www.tvguide.com/News/Exclusive-Fox-Murder-Police-Cable-1071812.aspx</ref>

Even though most have speculated that the series only partially finished its episodes before cancelling production, the United States Copyright Office claims in their public catalog that all the episodes have been copied to Betacam SP tapes in 2014, meaning all episodes from the original 13-episode order are fully produced. It has been rumored to have aired in India, but no evidence has unearthed to support this claim.<ref>https://sites.google.com/site/swimpediaiscoming/interviews-reviews/interview-with-royal-crackers-creator-and-executive-producer</ref>

Over time, the title sequence of Murder Police leaked on YouTube in 2015, two years after the show was cancelled. Jason Ruiz has went on to express his displeasure with the show, calling it a bad experience. Ruiz would then create ''Royal Crackers'' for Adult Swim, which premiered on April 2, 2023.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
murder police concept.webp|Concept art from the original press release
murder police promo.jpg
Murderpolice1.jpg|
Murderpolice2.jpg|
Murderpolice3.jpg|
Murderpolice4.jpg|
Murderpolice5.jpg|
Murderpolice6.jpg|
Murderpolice7.jpg|
Murderpolice8.jpg|
Murderpolice9.jpg|
Murderpolice10.jpg|
Murderpolice11.jpg|
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSpFi93Y74k Leaked title sequence]
* [https://vimeo.com/163323127 Animatic from Murder Police]
* [https://vimeo.com/96805018 Murder Police storyboard revisionist test]
* [https://www.facebook.com/MurderPolice/ Official Facebook page]
* [https://x.com/MurderPoliceFox Official Twitter page] [https://web.archive.org/web/20130926091355/https://twitter.com/MurderPoliceFox (archive)]

[[Category:Lost animation]]
[[Category:Lost TV]]
[[Category:Completely lost media]]