dudes: let's write stuff abt MIAMI VICE, the TV show

At some point about 5 years ago i got a copy of season 2 on dvd which is fucking classic and totally awesome. now i have season 5 which is not as mind blowing but still totally awesome. If you have never seen this show get it on netflix and let's write stuff in this thread about it.
C'mon!

All went downhill once Zito died.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEednRorKmU

^^ this happened in episodes 56 and 7 entitled 'down for the count' in season 3 so i can't really speak about it. article about john deihl the dude who played detective zito

MIAMI VICE EPISODE GUIDE

hulu has the first four seasons (full episodes)

was going to bang up an existing thread too, as i'm just rewatching the first two seasons. Season two starts with a stunning double bill set in NYC, with some great shots of the city. and then there's "out in the field" which is one of the best episodes ever.

Season five was surprisingly a lot better than 3 and 4 seasons, but had a shitty finale.

hilariously bad eps to look out for - viking bikers from hell and the one with the 'cloning tiny cows', also that bizarre episode with James Brown in.

oh man i had forgetten about the james brown ep

actually fuck it, i love every single episode of this show!

sorry not 'out in the fields', the episode is called 'out where the buses dont run' (probly got mixed up because it starts with the Who song

"you're not gettin' TWISTED over this girl, are ya, tubbs?"

pilot of this is hella good

The first couple scenes of "Definitely Miami" are Miami Vice at its apex.

oh yeah this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-1oDAIP0lU

shit cuts off before the punchline!
"I'm immune"

Ted Nugent in that episode too

the nuge utilizing the big pile of sand, yes that's a pretty classic ep
also i think when he say 'definitely miami' that's his only line

^Those were actually the only words the Nuge spoke from 1982-987, after he took a vow of silence. He communicated with his family, friends, and associates using a series of simple hand gestures and occasionally a guitar lick. He made an exception for Miami Vice because he was a big fan of the show.

The vocals on his records were sung by a Scarlet Macaw named Shemp

best show

i live blogd the 1st 2 eps of season 2 on fb last nite \(o_O)/

just finished with season 2 and watching the finale realised something shocking. spoilers ahead btw.

tubbs realises he has a son, but at the end of this episode he is under the impression that the child dies in the car bomb. But the child was saved, and the amazing thing is Tubbs never finds out about this.

an oversight from the writers? or something quite spectacularly mind blowing?

home invaders from season one is one of my all time favourites.

There's a great moment when Castillo pulls some fancy jujitsu sleep pinch on a crook with the line "Better yet, GOOD NIGHT!"

great ep where crockett is walking all alone in new york city and phil collins is all "take me home" and then tubbs come running after him in the airport after just having slept with pam grier

I used to love how the USA Today 'Life' section on Fridays would have what songs were going to be on the show that night. Even a Smiths song made it on an episode!

i guess at the time that was a totally new and refreshing stunt?

worst episode: "made for each other"

omg pimp concierge miles davis with a baseball bat

After wasting time watching the first season of what was in essence an average cop show with wisecracking has-beens, I'm watching the second season of "Miami Vice" -- what a difference. Arty, "contemplative," and understated. Fantastic use of music; I finished an episode (directed by that great stone face Edward James Olmos) in which Bryan Ferry's "Boys and Girls" was weaved with real skill around the opening scenes. Still kitsch though. I can see how it made the shows around it ("Dallas"!) look dowdy.

Those of you old enough to know: your experiences? I wasn't allowed to watch the show, but its presence was omnipresent in 1985 and 1986. A sixth grade dance in spring '86 existed as a showcase for rented powder-blue suits, espadrilles, silk shirts, and gelled peach fuzz. Our Christmas party in '85 was all about the TV soundtrack, still the biggest selling in music history.

oh man i used to come home from the activity center and watch this usually while eating some ice cream and then channel surf while the news was on then johnny carson, dave letterman and FRIDAY NIGHT VIDEOS! good times

I catch bits of reruns on cable occasionally - this show cracks me up. the tortured posing! the fluorescent lights! the insane 80s set designs!

I watched it a bit as a kid when it originally aired, I think most of it went over my head

Ah, Michael Mann.

the Phil Collins episode is awful: what a smug asshole.

hey man, it's just another day in paradise

i thought phil collins was cast very appropriately

also i don't know which ep it is but there's one where crocket has an aligator for a pet and tosses him a steak as he's all hungover

^^^honestly the "crockett lives on a boat and owns an alligator" is like the sum total of my childhood memories of this show

and it's the reason i know what espadrilles are as well as pastel colors
for some reason i always think of miami vice when i hear the word pastel

Espadrilles make your bare feet stink something awful.

I know.

hey- we were watching TV in Berlin tonight and we see something listed as "Miami Vice" which totally looks the part- bad 80s clothes, everyone with weird poofy hair, jackets with sleeves folded up to their elbows, muscle Ts, cop show about drugs n stuff, y'know- but . . .

no Crockett and no Tubbs-

instead the show revolved around some cute and sorta plastic-y and porn-looking male actors who were really nondescript

but the credits said "A Michael Mann Production" and stuff and it listed Jan Hammer: Music etc.

so we are confused- were there ever episodes of "Miami Vice" that just straight up didn't have Don Johnson in them at all? Are we high or something? and yeah we've looked around online already but no dice. it's like we fell into an alternate TV universe (exciting and scary)

if it helps jog yr memory- in the episode we watched a guy is high on drugs and hallucinates and the hallucinations are rendered in a pastel-y video effect similar to that used in the a-Ha "Take on Me" video- and he is almost killed by a semi that nearly rolls over him but the boring good guys who aren't Crockett and Tubbs but who are wearing retarded white pants tucked into black buckle boots with bandanas on their heads save him from a psychedelic death on the freeway.

Anybody? Anybody? Help us!

No idea about that, but P.M. Thomas was and is my fashion hero.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1107/1352507044_0b622409de.jpg?v=0

not sure about that, crockett was always the more stylish one. especially in the later seasons when the costume people tried to experiment with new styles:

http://www.miamiviceonline.com/screenshots/miracle02.jpg

Yuck!

the miami vice "look" is still very fresh though imo -- ray-bans and carreras are still in, and I wouldn't be too surprised to see the same pastel henleys/linen slacks sold at american apparel or something

Yeah, somewhere I read that the per-show budget was cut drastically before the end. From Armani to, like, Generra.

http://www.starringthecomputer.com/snapshots/miami_vice_s5e3_amiga2000_1.jpg

PMT looks so unhappy in that leopard-pattern jacket.

Humiliated--that might be the right word.

The show peaked quickly: from '85 to 1986 really. At a sixth grade dance, every guy wore turquoise or salmon pink pseudo Armani jackets and sockless espadrilles (David Rieff's excellent book on Miami mentions how thoroughly the look had permeated the city, and how officials exploited it). But I don't remember anyone talking about the show or dressing like Crockett or Tubbs from '86 onwards.

man ed o'neil just went ham on some porno guys

What was the episode where an arms dealer demonstrated his wares on CROCKETT'S CAR? This sequence, and Crockett's reaction, are the only parts of MV I remember watching. Also, I suspect this is the highlight of the series--am I correct?

That was Jeff Fahey in When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (season three).

I watched the entire series on DVD over the course of two months last year. It is fantastic almost throughout.

the first season of this has some hints of how good it gets later but there's a lot of bad jokes and bad fake accents and it doesn't look nearly as good as it did later. just watched an episode where crockett and tubbs infiltrate a boat race to try and get at a drug shipment, with crockett getting into the race by hustling the drug dealer at a pool game. at least three minutes of the last half of the episode are devoted to a shirtless tubbs making out awkwardly in bed with the dealer's mistress. great show!

I like how the writers decided Crockett dealing with this estranged family or w/e wasn't going anywhere and dropped that plot sideline right at the start

Tubbs doll:

http://www.figurerealm.com/Galleries/miamivice/RicardoTubbs-GreenSuit.jpg

lol love the OP's enthusiasm

s1e1 surprisingly moving?

http://i.imgur.com/i0DGacS.jpg
You got a leak your department the size of the east rivuh

http://i.imgur.com/Y0sRTX4.jpg
Alright that's it. Any questions?
Yeah, I gotta question. You roll some fruit for that shirt or what?

http://imgur.com/3zn8p4P.jpg
You were my partner...thanksgiving...birthdays

http://imgur.com/LCseL5Q.jpg
in the air

ok gotta rewatch that

I just remember the subplot of Sonny's family (divorce?) that they backgrounded and how Olmos doesn't appear much until later

olmos wasn't their original captain so that's why he didn't show up until episode 4 or whenever.

yeah Castillo is the original captain until he gets murdered and they have that whole epic revenge episode

err....not castillo, I mean Rodriguez

Golden Triangle 2 parter the highlight of season 1, despite it's kind of cop-out ending. I always thought if they were going to make a sequel to the Mann movie, they could have cribbed it from that

Is it worth it watching the whole season? Or should I just skip to those episodes? Cause I watched a bit of ep 2 and it seemed kind of schlocky

it takes a lil bit to get going, I started enjoying it by episode 3. once they start having two-parters and the stakes get epic it gets more fun. The Ed O'Neill episode is weird, it feels like it belongs later in the season.

the two I noted have a notably darker tone than the rest of the season.

Golden Triangle is Olmo's star turn
Also who knew Josie Packard is in this? : )

I have never seen MV, but just learned that one of them had a pet alligator and want to give it a try. Studio could have added a gator or two to the marketing of this show if they had wanted to appeal to folks like me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awzOq_XKA_o

Tim Capello!

Cappello

I’m just starting with it but Tokyo Vice seems decent so far.

It’s interesting to me that there’s basically a whole subgenre of police procedurals indebted to The Wire. (Maybe Tokyo Vice will resolve the apparent dysfunction easily idk.) But Narcos Mexico was another one that really dug into the dysfunction.

Sorry, thread derail.

Just watched the Pilot for the first time since 1984. I loved this show so much as a 12 yo and thought Sonny Crocket was the coolest thing ever.

What a great show! Has any other TV show, let alone a network TV show, edited scenes with music so completely? The version of "All Night Long" by the latin band in the scene in the club when Tubbs meets Calderon is perfect. Philip Michael Thomas really great job with the contained rage in that scene. In fact, he's as much if not more of the star of the episode as Crocket.

er, as Johnson.

The "In the Air Tonight" sequence rules.

Side note, loved how Crockett and Tubbs p much never arrested anyone, they just killed them

That pilot pretty much nailed it, iirc the rest is really hit or miss.

Side note, loved how Crockett and Tubbs p much never arrested anyone, they just killed them

Not in the Pilot! Crockett convinces Tubbs to arrest Calderone instead of blow him away in cold blood. Calderone jumps bail (by seaplane, natch, it's Miami) at the v end. Maybe this is where they learned their lesson.

Kind of echoed in the beginning of the movie, where they let the bad guy get away, saying something like "we will get him next time."

Second episode very good as well - Ed O'Neil doing ersatz Popeye Doyle.

Maybe it's the SD, but I did find some of the show looked surprisingly cheap.

there are some good sequences later in the first season. the multi-part episodes are pretty dope

E3 Spoilers: Sonny and Rico, tracking down a gang of murderous drug dealers who killed one undercover cop and put the other in a coma, get their big break when they recover a staticky cassette tape recording of the shooting on which coma-cop post-shooting barely whispers a description of the gang. After huge deal of time and effort to clean up the recording, Sonny and Rico proceed to decipher this near-death rattle description while screaming down the highway at night in Sonny's convertible Ferrari.

Let us now write faux.MV plots

Strong disagree that this show peaked with the pilot! Surely it was the truly insane Sonny Burnett storyline - and generally some incredible high 80s set design / direction that makes it feel like a shampoo commercial - like, loving shots of swimming pools etc up there with Less Than Zero - I remember it being totally worthwhile up to the halfway point, think Don Johnson’s stubble reaching actual beard length is the cutoff point? Or did Tubbs grow a beard too? Also Jan Hammer stops doing the music so maybe that is when the magic fades.

Anywqy fuckin epic great show.

As with Moonlighting the early eps feel a bit doughty and still have some 70s DNA - the show flies when it jettisons all that and goes pure 80s sleek.

Where is this show streaming? It's not on Hulu or Netflix — if I want to watch it on Amazon Prime I'll have to pay, which I'm not going to do.

Never mind; I forgot to check Tubi, and of course it's there.

really wanted them to do a sequel to the Miami Vice movie and use the Golden Triangle two-parter from Season 1 was a jumping off point for the story.

*as

Just watched the Ed O'Neill episode — some surprising soundtrack choices (Devo, what I think was Al Jarreau) and pretty dark story-wise.

As with Moonlighting the early eps feel a bit doughty and still have some 70s DNA - the show flies when it jettisons all that and goes pure 80s sleek.

― meat and two vdgg (emsworth), Monday, July 10, 2023 9:52 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Just watched the Ed O'Neill episode — some surprising soundtrack choices (Devo, what I think was Al Jarreau) and pretty dark story-wise.

― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, July 11, 2023 12:41 AM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

This is what I am finding fascinating - it feels cheap and 70s in some ways (some really obv soundstage parts they'd use CGI on now, a driving scene obv not in a real vehicle), but also pointing toward the nihilistic stories of later prestige tv. Really looking forward to some of the episodes with recurring characters and multi-part stories.

The music is absolutely critical, too. There are a ton of scenes that start without dialogue, just characters driving cars, piloting boats, or entering a new drug meetup, and the music just plays setting a critical vibe until the dialogue comes in, often over the music as it continues to play out. I don't remember another show where the music is so vital.

I had a mashup of the 'In the Air Tonight' scene + Ween's 'Demon Sweat' in my head for years and finally synced it up a little while back and was stunned by how well it works: http://www.youtubemultiplier.com/64ad50acdb839-miami-sweat.php

imagine if instead of "In the Air Tonight", they'd used Pac-Man Fever

You may say I'm a dreamer

Yeah my recollection is the show is trying to aim for more offbeat moments at the beginning, and only later does it really fully embrace the mood and true Miami vice vibe we all know and love.

The pre-Olmos lieutenant has too much of a Barney Miller vibe. (He was on that show, so it makes sense from an acting standpoint, but he feels completely out of place.)

He had the air of this kinda harried and exasperated superior, def the show required the minimally emotive low key slightly mysterious menace of EJO.

it was far better when he was killed off. not only did it give the cool two-parter storyline, but then we got Olmos

Nice!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ-4RaIspRA

https://i.imgur.com/jeqGC2p.jpg

Our heroes

https://i.imgur.com/YFdgvRE.jpg

Edward James Olmos' first scene is all-time - when Crockett says he hasn't finished the report on the incident earlier in the day, Olmos gives him such a stare without saying anything - absolutely perfect.

then says "IT'S TOO BAD SHE WON'T LIIIIIVE"

Just watched that episode. Joe Dallesandro and Dennis Farina as mobsters!

I’m up to the Bruce Willis ep, “no exit”
Love Tubb’s Jamaican accent. It’s his secret weapon. Fools everyone

Bruce Willis is comically bad in this episode.

I thought Crocket was so cool when I was a kid, but seeing it again, he's no Tubbs. Thomas has some weird, but great line readings.

I bought my first double-breasted jacket when I was like 16 under the influence of this show. I was totally a Tubbs guy rather than Crockett's fuchsia henleys (which Johnson pulls off for his own style).

Talk about slaves to fashion , these guys will pull a midnight stake out in pink and baby blue

supercut of Tubbs being Tubbs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFCS48B7_sI

Started it up again, just watched the Ed O'Neill episode. The ending feels like it's got to be one of the first of its kind, which I feel like was everywhere for awhile in the late 80s/early 90s. Everything is settled and then they get bad news re: an offscreen death.

Gregory Sierra definitely feels out of place, he's good but it's the wrong show for him. Funny how he wound up portraying one of the primary antagonists in the very Miami vice-like deep cover.

I had a mashup of the 'In the Air Tonight' scene + Ween's 'Demon Sweat' in my head for years and finally synced it up a little while back and was stunned by how well it works

Tangential but this is very appropriate given that when I first saw Ween in early 1992 they introduced "Demon Sweat" as their Phil Collins number and asked us in the club to imagine the big bald head of Phil rising behind them. So now I want that to be the background of this scene.

https://i.imgur.com/ITGWMRK.jpg

Re-watched the pilot for CRIME STORY on Tubi tonight and holy hell, I remember that as one of the hardest things ever broadcast on network TV and it really holds up. Directed by Abel Ferrara!

Golden Triangle eps go some weird places. Castillo fighting with the waiter in back of the Thai restaurant and C&T showing up like “wtf” might be my series favorite moment so far

Calderone is one of the least-threatening villains. And Tubbs didn't even get to do the honors at the end!

The episodes following that first two-parter are kind of weak, but still enjoyable. I love they pull in undercover to a backwater Everglades town in a freaking Ferrari and in the parking lot are not one, but two DeLoreans.

Tubbs is just an absolute horndog.

I died at Tubbs' Jamaican accident fooling an actual Jamaican.

Rewatching this from the beginning. Fantastic as remembered, but I was surprised by how much cop show cliché carry-over there is in the early episodes, as well as by the amount of pseudo-witty wisecracking in those same episodes (halfway thru the season it feels maybe like they're cutting back on the latter). Lots of tropes from the type of action-adventure novels that used to be sold on spinner racks; a lotta John D. MacDonald vibes. But loads of originality too.

Hadn't remembered Gregory Sierra being the original boss. But as soon as Edward James Olmos comes in, his ultra-narrow ties trigger instant nostalgia... this is the Vice I remember. I feel as if I missed a lot of early Vice because I was in high school and it aired on Friday night when I often had some social thing to do. It was surprising to check and see that the first season aired on Sunday night. I think that explains why s1 is the season I've seen the most of.

I'll eventually get over it, but I find it hard to look at Zito. It's between the Lee Harvey Oswald resemblance and the fact that he's always disgustingly chewing on something.

So far it's all the location shooting that's blowing me away. I'm recognizing so many spots I've been to IRL. I think that was an interesting time in Miami Beach especially, transitioning out of its shabby period into the the Art Deco restoration period, just before the supermodels took over iirc.

Y'all --

MV didn't peak until its second season. The first one is a cool Matlock or something, with smoking and pastels and stuff.

eah my recollection is the show is trying to aim for more offbeat moments at the beginning, and only later does it really fully embrace the mood and true Miami vice vibe we all know and love.

― omar little, Tuesday, July 11, 2023 11:13 AM

otm

Crockett looks pretty good for a guy who smokes unfiltered Lucky Strikes and will eat two street hot dogs at once

Classic for all wrong reasons - season 3 "Viking Bikers from Hell"

I mis-read the thread title as "Dudes, Let's Do White Stuff About Miami Vice"

Glenn Frey episode “smugglers blues” is pretty embarrassing tbh

well, yeah

https://i.imgur.com/Jw01qNt.png
Let us now praise famous policewomen

I was surprised they went so hard so early with Gina getting raped while undercover.

I dunno but it seems like a bad idea keeping an alligator chained up on a boat in a marina.

https://i.imgur.com/WH67An3.jpg

…In which Tubbs helps Pam Grier find her sister and then makes love to her

https://i.imgur.com/EnI4TVi.jpg

sassy

https://i.imgur.com/IrvjZdK.jpg

S1 ep 21 “nobody lives forever” in which Tubbs cock-blocks Crockett from his fancy new rich girlfriend, leading to some self-reflection on a boat to the tune of the Don Johnson song “heartbeat” in the background.

Amazing TV Guide entry.

Giancarlo Esposito sighting in S1 E11 "Little Prince".

Robin Johnson, one of the girls from the film Times Square as "Candy James" in "Golden Triangle - Part 1." I still can't believe she's not David Johansen's daughter.

Also S1 E11: Tubbs monologue about how the saddest thing is a wealthy (read: white) drug addict, since they do drugs because they hurt so much inside, implying that poor (read: POC) just do it for the fun of it.

That was such a crazy line

not having seen show since 80s , is the implication that the poor poc do it for fun or that they actually have struggles that make usage more understandable as opposed to rich white folx?
guess asking if it was meant as sad - tragic or as sad - pathetic?

Yeah I think so interpreted it as the latter, but I’d like to go to the transcript. It definitely hit in an odd way.

*I interpreted it

Giancarlo Esposito sighting in S1 E11 "Little Prince".

Young Ving Rhames in s1 ep17 "The Maze." Too bad it's kind of a tedious episode.

always loved how Tubbs had his very own musical score for when he got 'down and dirty' with the ladies.

The first part of the maze is interesting, but once tubs gets caught in the maze it's a bit dull yeah.

(they could have gone the die hard route with that one)

Originally i hated the Out Where the Buses Don't Run episode, mainly due to Bruce McGill's ridiculous comical performance. After a couple watches, and realising that the 'Brothers In Arms' ending was strong stuff, it's now probably one of my favourites.

Funny to think a new season of Miami Vice would need DJ Khaled.

he was at the Inter Miami soccer match last night lol. the entire time he was on camera he was texting

Betty Crocker smokes in every scene
Tubby just looks cool
Gina and Tutti Fruitti lurkin’
Zweitec and Ziti with headphones on nodding out in the van

Golden Triangle Pts. 1-2 are very good. All I remember about Castillo from childhood was that he was mysterious and scary and this must be where I got that from.

I can't help but imagine how good the show might have been with some longer story arcs and more recurring villains/characters.

https://i.imgur.com/moyGb17.jpg

Good trivia that "Out Where the Buses Don't Run" was up till the last minute supposed to star Dennis Hopper in the Bruce McGill role. What job did Hopper take in its place? Blue Velvet.

Just watched the Power Station-Eartha Kitt-santeria episode and am now realizing this must have been shot mere days after Don Johnson introduced Power Station's performance at Live Aid. Johnson and Michael Des Barres had been friends before somehow.

The Pam Grier episode is pretty dark, but would have been even darker had they introduced her character a couple of episodes earlier and given her and Tubbs a little run.

https://i.imgur.com/NgTg8C3.jpg

Just watched the Power Station-Eartha Kitt-santeria episode

the 'punchline' from Taylor in that bar fight scene was roffflll

The Trudy-centric episode in s2 that starts with her shooting a perp dead and ends with her using her ex-boyfriend to set up a drug bust is called "The Dutch Oven" - I was wondering if this title had some other meaning or relevance beyond that one but I guess not

Hulu has existed for 13 years???

It was launched on October 29, 2007

Eszter Balint stabbing Nathan Lane to death in s2 ep5 “Buddies.” Unpredictable!

Forgot how much chugging guitar rock is in this show. Hope they get into some freestyle later on.

Also, the set design looks much different in season 2. Very theatrical and color-coordinated. Whenever they go to someone’s apartment it’s like that character is living in an art gallery.

https://i.imgur.com/AJM54Cj.jpg

Just another day at the office

love these stills you are posting.

thanks, this show is so visually and sonically rich it's ridiculous

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QEIvgC6Aias/maxresdefault.jpg

Mann’s rule for the show was: no earth tones. Maybe that really got punched up in S2.

I wish Miles Davis had been a recurring character

S2 is peak cultural ubiquity for Miami Vice: #1 soundtrack, huge budgets, kids at my school dance in pastel suits and espadrilles. Probably the best season too.

I'm being surprised by how much comedy and silliness there is in the early episodes, but from what I've heard they dial that aspect back a little in s2 and especially in s3 which is very serious by comparison.

The bar where Noogie holds court was irl a bar called Flynn's Ocean 71 (Collins Ave. & 71st St.). That's where I saw my first punk rock show, since they had all ages matinee shows on weekends. Black Flag and the Minutemen played there in 1984. Upstairs from it was a hotel called the Chelsea (haha). I checked the location on Google Images and there's a hamburger joint now where the bar was.

Most of S1 plays like typical early '80s PI comic-drama tbh albeit with better clothes

it's hard to spot the Mann-ness in the early going, but maybe that's just because Mann himself had yet to find his sweet spot. the first season does have a much more gritty vibe, and it's actually vv good in that wheelhouse, but yeah it's just definitely more typical. it's going for a cross between Magnum PI and Scarface or something. which doesn't sound typical, but the execution is. and it really whiplashes frequently between truly bleak story beats and comic relief. Cool Runnin' going between the comic relief duo of Zito and Switek to cops being murdered to Noogie doing his thing is pretty much par for the course tonally at this point.

Castillo is an unusual guy. He knows martial arts (without telling anyone), he knows about Santería, he puts on a Speedo and swims way out in the ocean. He's like a mystical character from a Carlos Castañeda book.

The number of shootouts in s1 and the deadliness of them I think were unprecedented in US cop shows (more like Scarface, yes, which I've always felt was THE big inspiration for the show).

Also the "In the Air Tonight" driving scene is from early s1, so that moody vibe was in the show from the start. And I don't think any cop show had done quite so much location shooting up to that point - and certainly not to such effect. Original Hawaii Five-O being the only show that comes close.

otm

I read the series as a romance between Crockett and Gina

Love that ring on her finger in S2. And Trudie giving C a backrub alone on his boat in that episode where she gets depressed over killing a perp.

Tubbs, stretching out, tries to fool actual Haitians with his Haitian accent in s2 “Tale of the Goat.” It doesn’t work and they turn him into a zombie. J/k he recovers miraculously and gets right back into the action.

lol

https://i.imgur.com/C1mG1ng.jpg

Gina turns down an invite to Chinese with the gang

Outstanding

I thought Phil Collins was pretty good in his episode, Ted Nugent not so much in his, although he was spectacular in his death scene; it looked like he was really getting shot to death.

Zito kind of handsome in a beard but he shaves it off mid-season 2.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cv2_3ONvnEH/

Saundra’s insta is a nice thing

https://i.imgur.com/MPKsB1K.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/TPaO0Bu.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/d9kO3Rd.jpg

“He seems nice enough but I can’t understand what he’s saying”

https://i.imgur.com/vEzWBRr.jpg

Tubbs tries to lighten the mood

haha i have that scene on a gif somewhere, which i created, Tubbs doing weird stretches in the office

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6-QZot81ic

This jam is hot af

Bought that 2CD Jan Hammer comp on a trip to Santa Barbara when it was a new release and on the display rack in the soundtrack section - sells for quite a lot now. Wasn’t aware of it and would have otherwise passed me by despite being a bit of a holy grail release for me.

The second disc is re-recordings but they are unbelievably faithful, presumably using the OG midi files / settings etc. My ear could juuust tell that they were not the original tracks before checking liner notes, I guess maybe it is the mix choices or higher bitrate recording that is an indicator?

“Bought that 2CD Jan Hammer comp on a trip to Santa Barbara”
#lifegoals

Bought a box set of this to watch for the very first time. I had been allowed to watch lots of action TV shows in the early 80s, but I guess my parents thought Miami Vice was super scandalous or something. I'll have to run through a few episodes of Fall Guy and Magnum P.I. for comparison purposes.

Anyway, I watched Glades last night. What a fun bunch of hillbillies! Particularly Clem - I was worried about him getting his gator gun to work, but he came through when it counted.

https://i.imgur.com/Y1WofpV.jpg

i used to watch MV with my dad on Fridays. 10pm iirc. I remember very little about it apart from the opening credits, with that theme, which were incredibly thrilling, and a scene where Crockett's looking for a contact in some disreputable waterfront warehouse and finally finds him, and the guy says "hey, que pasa!" and Crockett pulls his gun on him and growls "don't 'que pasa' me!!!"

I may have said this before so apologies if so, but I never understood how Crockett and Tubbs always used the same fake identities when going undercover to bust creeps. eventually, wouldn't Miami's criminal underworld cotton on to the pattern that literally everyone who does business with these guys named Burnett and Cooper end up in jail??

Yeah, even this early in my binge, I realized I would have to buy into a Miami where the underworld is so seething and vast that none of the drug lords have compared notes about the playboy speedboat operators that took them down.

"don't 'que pasa' me!!!"

There are definitely some ridiculous hardman lines in this show. I should be writing them down. From the Glades episode, the one that's been rolling over in my mind is "Maybe you won't even twitch."

Tracer, I make that observation nearly every time Crockett and Tubbs make a bust. Plus, Crockett driving around in that ersatz Ferrari would be hella memorable. Not only that, they sometimes appear in public in their police identities driving the same cars!

It is funny how 12 yo me never gave these things a second thought and it was one of the first things I noticed on my rewatch.

Porsche Spyder iirc?

oh I guess it was a Ferrari(-ish). should have known with that sharp nose. Weird how two high end performance car brands can both have a model named Spyder.

https://www.motortrend.com/vehicle-genres/miami-vice-ferrari-daytona-spyder-corvette-facts/

spyder is sort of a general word for a convertible sports car

https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/a1820786/convertible-spider-or-spyder-and-what-heck-spider-anyway/

ahhhh ty

I knew that re: spyder, but didn't know the origin of the term. Interesting link!

https://i.imgur.com/3WGbtzX.jpg

“BBT”

Miami Vice but Tubbs drives a golf cart and Crockett a 1978 Ford station wagon

Miami Retiree Vice

Would watch

https://ginaandtrudy.bandcamp.com/album/vicewave

Nice, I just watched the s3 episode in that still, where they were undercover as streetwalkers.

Have to admit, seeing the “Big Booty Trudy” sign always makes me lol.

Which still are you referring to?

The one where Gina is leaning on a car with her butt out and Trudy is standing beside her. It’s in black & white.

Scroll down from the album cover

That’s from season 2

Oh OK sorry. I’m watching all the episodes in order now and must’ve got that mixed up

“Listen pal, get your seasons straight!” lol

I’m hearing that in a Don Johnson voice

There are definitely some ridiculous hardman lines in this show. I should be writing them down. From the Glades episode, the one that's been rolling over in my mind is "Maybe you won't even twitch."

― peace, man, Monday, 18 September 2023 10:59 (five days ago) link

having just watched The Glades, i figured this was the line that Mann repurposed and expanded on for Gina in the Miami Vice film.

Crockett and Tubbs really gotta be more careful i.e. their casually mentioning how they're looking for that specific guy to be their "guide" and immediately a couple of unfriendly shitkickers volunteer to drive them out into the deep swamp and they accept.

exactly

I can’t believe they left the Ferrari with those dudes

The fake Ferrari or the real Ferrari?

The fake black one

who are these dudes you speak of

the sketchy redneck guys in "The Glades"

The last episode I watched Tubbs was on the phone and said "It's Tubbs - Tough, Unique, Bad, Bold, and Sassy"

love this show

https://i.imgur.com/gt66Dq7.jpg

“Sincerely, L. Cohen”

so the end of season 2...not sure if it's bad writing or I missed something. baffled by the 'I'll be back' note Tubbs receives at the funeral. Who could have written this? Calderon's son was killed in the shack explosion...right? The episode doesn't confirm this either way so I guess it must be him. And the baby - when Calderon is tying his sister down in the car, he says 'take the baby back to the main house' to one of his goons. So the baby is presumably still alive, and I guess it was an empty baby casket at the funeral? Anyway I love the focus on Tubbs in the last episode. Really felt like he took a back seat for most of season 2.

First ep of S3 … haircuts, darker clothes, and new car (without explanation)… Crockett losing control at the end in the back seat of the limo

Calderon's son was killed in the shack explosion...right?

dusting off memories on this one, and I'm pretty sure i had exactly the same reaction. You have to wait ...

S3 though, gawd.

Ep 5 is amazing tho

Nope, not that one. Ep11

and Ep22 is something else

xps Are you sure that's the first ep because the black Ferrari was destroyed by a Stinger missile in S3 ep1 and then in the next episode it's kind of covertly suggested that the new white Ferrari was repossessed from the principal in The Breakfast Club who had appeared in s3 ep1 (and repainted).

The shift in the color palette is quite striking, you suddenly see yellows and greens and lots of neon blue.

I was in love with that white Ferrari

Damn my eps are out of order. I watched ep5 ffs

https://i.imgur.com/FjbZunN.jpg

Bye bye Fauxrarri

https://i.imgur.com/dxCemuf.jpg

Like mustard and relish

i remember when the car blew up. shocking stuff

Inexcusable move on the part of that arms dealer

https://i.imgur.com/9IWdcad.jpg

“Let’s go back to the boat. I won’t be a bother…”

Joe Dallessandro, S3 ep 13. Amazing. Shoulda been a regular.

yeah great henchman

oh wait, am I misremembering. Was he a henchman ?

ah he was in MV twice, he was a henchman in season 1 for Lombard.

https://i.imgur.com/gUxDOal.jpg
Peak

I told my wife two upcoming guest stars were some of my favorite musicians of all time (Miles, Willie Nelson) and she guessed Bob Dylan, Geddy Lee, and Jimi Hendrix (lol) and now I want to see those episodes.

Just read an interview with Michael Mann where he said his favorite Vice guest star was Miles Davis

https://i.imgur.com/jfnpP2h.jpg

Gina makes the kill

https://i.imgur.com/K312WxH.jpg

A pensive moment

I remember that apartment and thinking, how cute, I could live there. So Floridian.

Yeah GTA Vice City did a grand job of replicating that style, would be nice if the new one could repeat that.

https://i.imgur.com/PNkoCdA.jpg

Hey mang, what is happening in your musical life?

Ha so much love for Izzy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSiIwOBq65Q

I had to warm up to him, but now I miss Zito after he was killed

This has got to be a top 3 weird list of guest stars on a single episode of Miami Vice (S2E11):

Bob Balaban
Patti D'Arbanville
G. Gordon Liddy
Iman

Totally

I’m almost done with season 3 and in the last week have seen benecio del toro and Ian Shane

yeah and Shaney comes back in S5

(in the final ep)

https://i.imgur.com/qy5nrjz.jpg

G&T always on point, strictly business, too cool to be forgotten

G's shirt gives away that it's season 3... that color

Yup

I recently picked up the Season 2 boxset of this recently and Im loving it. The music is tremendous too, always 3 or 4 bangers every episode. The Bushido episode is one of my favourites. Theres an intense trippy psychedelic moment where Castillo meets a Buddhist shaman. Pretty out-there for an 80s cop show, The episode is so brilliantly ludicrous with a turn from Dean Stockwell also

I was mad into Miami Vice when it first aired. It was shown here on Ireland on Saturday night and it was always popular. Cop shows are always popular here but this had some glamour and flash to it compared to something like Hill Street Blues. I was about 10 or 11 at the time when it was at its most populat. A lot of it went over my head but I liked the action, flashy suits and cars. I actually wore a Crockett-esque suit for my Confirmation, it was plaid though I had that particular dark green shirt that was popular in the 80s. Skinny tie and grey leather slip-ons too. I remember writing a Miami-Vice inspired short story about detectives finding cocaine being smuggled in via a truckload of lemon swiss rolls (yknow, where the cream is). My mum and my brothers had a good laugh about that one. I was incensed though, I meant it to be a hard hitting crime story!

Lol, great post.

We just watched that Dean Stockwell episode last week. This run of Season 2 has just the craziest guest stars: Bob Balaban/Patty D'Arbanville/G. Gordon Liddy/Iman, Phil Collins/Emo Phillips/Kyra Sedgwick, and Ted Nugent.

https://i.imgur.com/p8A7Rhq.jpg

Celebrate the good times with the clean fresh taste of “Beer”

Shoulda hoisted a Pepsi...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HByh60JAlc

I've noticed the fake beer that they usually drink on the show looks like Löwenbräu, or sometimes Miller High Life - which were from the same company so maybe there was some sort of deal

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/miamivice/images/9/9c/Philmayhew.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20111011080405

https://miamivice.fandom.com/wiki/Phil_Mayhew

I remember Walt ordering a Fat Tire on Breaking Bad once and I kind of double-taked, as that was one of the first times I'd heard someone order a specific beer on a show.

https://i.imgur.com/c1WWmvU.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/uIM3Rd0.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/vMGjWAD.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ddiENWN.jpg

Definitely the most WTF sequence of this show

^ Looking forward to that episode.

Btw I just remembered that in the s2 episode “Florence Italy” which centers around a street race in Miami, the main driver played by Danny Sullivan is sponsored by Löwenbräu - the real one, not a fake version.

https://i.imgur.com/0xeBhTV.jpg

Late night at the office watching telly with the bros

https://i.imgur.com/7FombpH.jpg

The color coordination is top tier

https://i.imgur.com/LGQaTt0.jpg

In the wake of Sheena Easton’s assassination, when Burnett is drowning himself in whiskey in the cabin of his boat, and Cooper comes to visit, and tells him that she had been pregnant, the visuals take on this unusual tint. Powerful

https://i.imgur.com/tGjFV4Q.jpg

As I approached the end of the penultimate season of my life, I wondered: was it all…just a dream?

Sonny is a suit?

Whoops, *in* a suit?

the suit represents birth

in that he's going to get somebody pregnant

If I was a witness being hunted by a cartel, and guarded by Zito and Switek, I'd probably just take my chances on the street

lol otm

https://i.imgur.com/f8xyQbd.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/HTXxvo6.jpg

Boss…your face

man he was Gucci Mane before Gucci Mane

https://i.imgur.com/rZ91EgF.jpg

“Oh Rico, I’d love to get lunch, but I have an audition to be an extra in a Milli Vanilli video.”

https://i.imgur.com/GgMTLHU.jpg

the last ride

Good lord

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_O2Lw0wuSA

lol, what possessed you to revive this thread at this particular time?! I literally just started watching it for the first time ever this weekend. Weird! Anyway, I do have thoughts, as it's both way cooler and way cheesier than I expected, which is a combo I vibe with hard. But for now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqWTjCyLTU4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb9e8OcC1jA

The Rico Tubbs style is finally back:
https://x.com/boymolish/status/1780732599197118845

I've only very glancingly scanned the thread in an effort to avoid spoilers, but is it possible that there hasn't been any discussion about the season three episode where Sonny goes full Will Graham and nearly loses his own mind while trying to get inside the head of a psychopath? Because goddamn was that episode ever excellent and maybe the craziest pre-Twin Peaks shit I've seen on broadcast television.

I remember that one, thought it was pretty silly and overdone...like Crockett really overplays it. Nice change up from the usual plots though