MIAMI VICE (DVD)

Miami Vice is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James Sonny Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Rico Tubbs, two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. The series ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The USA Network began airing reruns in 1988 and broadcast an originally unaired episode during its syndication run of the series on January 25, 1990.

Unlike standard police procedurals, the show drew heavily upon 1980s New Wave culture and is noted for its integration of contemporary pop and rock music and stylish or stylized visuals. People magazine states that Miami Vice was the first show to look really new and different since color TV was invented .

Michael Mann directed a film adaptation of the series, which was released July 28, 2006.

Conception

The conception of the show is unclear. One version of events states that the head of NBC s Entertainment Division, Brandon Tartikoff, wrote a brainstorming memo that simply read MTV cops , and later presented it to series creator Anthony Yerkovich, formerly a writer and producer for Hill Street Blues. Yerkovich, however, has indicated he devised the concept after learning about asset forfeiture statutes allowing law enforcement agencies to confiscate the property of drug dealers for official use. The initial idea was for a movie about a pair of vice cops in Miami. Yerkovich then wrote a script for a two-hour pilot, titled Gold Coast, but later renamed it to Miami Vice. Yerkovich was immediately drawn to South Florida as a setting for his new-style police show.

Production

In keeping with the show s title, most episodes focus on combating drug trafficking and prostitution. Episodes often end in an intense gun battle, claiming the lives of several criminals before they can be apprehended. An undercurrent of cynicism and futility underlies the entire series. The detectives repeatedly refer to the Whac-A-Mole nature of drug interdiction, with its parade of drug cartels quickly replacing those that are apprehended. Co-executive producer Yerkovich explained:

Even when I was on Hill Street Blues, I was collecting information on Miami, I thought of it as a sort of a modern-day American Casablanca. It seemed to be an interesting socio-economic tide pool: the incredible number of refugees from Central America and Cuba, the already extensive Cuban-American community, and on top of all that the drug trade. There is a fascinating amount of service industries that revolve around the drug trade—money laundering, bail bondsmen, attorneys who service drug smugglers. Miami has become a sort of Barbary Coast of free enterprise gone berserk.

The choice of music and cinematography borrowed heavily from the emerging New Wave culture of the 1980s. As such, segments of Miami Vice sometimes used music-based stanzas, a technique later featured in Baywatch. As Lee H. Katzin, one of the show s directors, remarked, The show is written for an MTV audience, which is more interested in images, emotions and energy than plot and character and words. These elements made the series into an instant hit, and in its first season saw an unprecedented fifteen Emmy Award nominations. While the first few episodes contain elements of a standard police procedural, the producers soon abandoned them in favor of a more distinctive style. Influenced by an Art Deco revival, no earth tones were allowed to be used in the production by executive producer Michael Mann. A director of Miami Vice, Bobby Roth, recalled:

There are certain colors you are not allowed to shoot, such as red and brown. If the script says A Mercedes pulls up here, the car people will show you three or four different Mercedes. One will be white, one will be black, one will be silver. You will not get a red or brown one. Michael knows how things are going to look on camera.

Miami Vice was one of the first American network television programs to be broadcast in stereophonic sound. It is mixed in Stereo sound for its entire run.

Casting

Nick Nolte and Jeff Bridges were considered for the role of Sonny Crockett, but since it was not lucrative for film stars to venture into television at the time, other candidates were considered. Mickey Rourke was also considered for the role, but he turned down the offer. Larry Wilcox, of CHiPs, was also a candidate for the role of Crockett, but the producers felt going from one police officer role to another would not be a good fit. After dozens of candidates and a twice-delayed pilot shooting, Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas were chosen as the vice cops. For Johnson, who was by then 34 years old, NBC had particular doubts about the several earlier unsuccessful pilots in which he starred. Jimmy Smits played Eddie Rivera, Crockett s ill-fated partner, in the pilot episode.

After two seasons, Don Johnson threatened to walk from the series as part of a highly publicized contract dispute. The network was ready to replace him with Mark Harmon, who had recently departed St. Elsewhere, but the network and Johnson were able to resolve their differences and he continued with the series until its end.

Locations

Before production started, the idea was to do all or most of the exterior filming in Los Angeles, and pass it off to viewers as urban Miami—an approach put into practice two decades later during the filming of CSI: Miami. But instead, nearly all filming, both exterior and interior, was done in Miami and Florida. Many episodes of Miami Vice were filmed in the South Beach section of Miami Beach, an area which, at the time, was blighted by poverty and crime, with its demographic so deteriorated that there simply weren t many people on the street. Ocean Drive s hotels were filled with elderly, mostly Jewish retirees, many of them frail, subsisting on meager Social Security payments. ... They were filming all over Miami Beach. ... They could film in the middle of the street. There was literally nobody there. There were no cars parked in the street . In early episodes in particular, local elderly residents were frequently cast as extras.

Some street corners of South Beach were so run down that the production crew actually decided to repaint the exterior walls of some buildings before filming. The crew went to great lengths to find the correct settings and props. Bobby Roth recalled, I found this house that was really perfect, but the color was sort of beige. The art department instantly paints the house gray for me. Even on feature films people try to deliver what is necessary but no more. At Miami Vice they start with what s necessary and go beyond it.

Miami Vice is to some degree credited with causing a wave of support for the preservation of Miami s famous Art Deco architecture in the mid-1980s to early 1990s; and many of those buildings, among them many beachfront hotels, have been renovated since filming, making that part of South Beach one of South Florida s most popular places for tourists and celebrities.

Other places commonly filmed in the series include locations around Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Interior scenes were initially supposed to be filmed at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, but to simplify cross-country logistics, the decision was made to use the facilities of Greenwich Studios in North Miami instead, and only carry out post-production in L.A. In a few scenes, particularly in earlier episodes, Greenwich Studios rear loading dock is repeatedly used as the back room of the Gold Coast Shipping building, where the offices of the vice squad are located.

Music

Miami Vice is noted for its innovative use of stereo broadcast music, particularly pop and rock hits of the 1980s and the distinctive, synthesized instrumental music of Jan Hammer. While other television shows used made-for-TV music, Miami Vice would spend $10,000 or more per episode to buy the rights to original recordings. Getting a song played on Miami Vice was a boost to record labels and artists. In fact, some newspapers, such as USA Today, would let readers know the songs that would be featured each week. Among the many well-known bands and artists, as well as underground or new wave associated acts, who contributed their music to the show were:

• Roger Daltrey
• El Debarge
• Duran Duran
• Power Station
• Devo
• Sinéad O Connor
• Russ Ballard
• Black Uhuru
• Jackson Browne
• Kate Bush
• Meat Loaf
• Phil Collins
• Bryan Adams
• Tina Turner
• Public Image Limited
• Peter Gabriel
• Pink Floyd
• ZZ Top
• The Smiths
• The Tubes
• Dire Straits
• Depeche Mode
• The Hooters
• Iron Maiden
• The Alan Parsons Project
• The Ward Brothers
• Godley & Creme
• Corey Hart
• Glenn Frey
• U2
• Underworld
• Frankie Goes to Hollywood
• Propaganda
• Foreigner
• The Police
• Red 7
• Ted Nugent
• Suicidal Tendencies
• The Damned
• Billy Idol
• The Church
• Billy Ocean
• Eric Clapton

Several artists guest-star in episodes, including Phil Collins, Miles Davis, Power Station, Glenn Frey, Suicidal Tendencies, Willie Nelson, Ted Nugent, Frank Zappa, The Fat Boys, Sheena Easton, Gloria Estefan, and Gene Simmons. An iconic scene from the Miami Vice oeuvre involves Crockett and Tubbs driving through Miami at night to Phil Collins song In the Air Tonight .

Jan Hammer credits executive producer Michael Mann with allowing him great creative freedom in scoring Miami Vice. The collaboration resulted in memorable instrumental pieces, including the show s title theme, which climbed to the top of the Billboard charts in November 1985.

The Miami Vice original soundtrack, featuring the theme song and Glenn Frey s Smuggler s Blues and You Belong to the City (a No. 2 hit), remained at the top of the U.S. album chart for 11 weeks in 1985, making it the most successful TV soundtrack at the time. The theme song was so popular that it also garnered two Grammy Awards in 1986. It was also voted the number-one theme song of all time by TV Guide readers. Crockett s Theme , another recurring tune from the show, became a No. 1 hit in several European countries in 1987.

During the show s run, three official soundtrack albums with original music from the episodes were released. Hammer also released several albums with music from the series; among them are Escape from Television (1987), Snapshots (1989), and after many requests from fans, Miami Vice: The Complete Collection (2002).

Fashion

The clothes worn on Miami Vice had a significant influence on men s fashion. They popularized, if not invented, the T-shirt under Armani jacket –style, and popularized Italian men s fashion in the United States. Don Johnson s typical attire of Italian sport coat, T-shirt, white linen pants, and slip-on sockless loafers became a hit. Crockett initially wore an 18k Rolex Day-Date President model in the first season, until Ebel won the contract for the remaining seasons. Similarly, Crockett s perpetually unshaven appearance sparked a minor fashion trend, inspiring men to wear designer stubble at all times. In an average episode, Crockett and Tubbs wore five to eight outfits, appearing in shades of pink, blue, green, peach, fuchsia, and the show s other approved colors. Designers such as Vittorio Ricci, Gianni Versace, and Hugo Boss were consulted in keeping the male leads looking trendy. Costume designer Bambi Breakstone, who traveled to Milan, Paris, and London in search of new clothes, said that, The concept of the show is to be on top of all the latest fashion trends in Europe. Jodi Tillen, the costume designer for the first season, along with Michael Mann, set the style. The abundance of pastel colors on the show reflects Miami s Art-deco architecture.

During its five-year run, consumer demand for unstructured blazers, shiny fabric jackets, and lighter pastels increased. After Six formal wear even created a line of Miami Vice dinner jackets, Kenneth Cole introduces Crockett and Tubbs shoes, and Macy s opened a Miami Vice section in its young men s department. Crockett also boosted Ray Ban s popularity by wearing a pair of Model L2052, Ray-Ban Wayfarers, which increases sales of Ray Bans to 720,000 units in 1984. In the spring of 1986, an electric razor became available named the Stubble Device , allowing users to have a beard like Don Johnson s character. It was initially named the Miami Device by Wahl, but in the end the company opted to avoid a trademark infringement lawsuit. Many of the styles popularized by the TV show, such as the T-shirt under pastel suits, no socks, rolled up sleeves, and Ray-Ban sunglasses, have become the standard image of 1980s culture. The influence of Miami Vice s fashions continued into the early 1990s, and to some extent persists today.

Firearms

Miami Vice also popularized certain brands of firearms and accessories. After Johnson became dissatisfied with his gun holster, the Jackass Leather Company (later renamed Galco International) sent their president, Rick Gallagher, to personally fit Don Johnson with an Original Jackass Rig , later renamed the Galco Miami Classic .

The Bren Ten, manufactured by Dornaus & Dixon, was a stainless-steel handgun used by Don Johnson during Miami Vice s first two seasons. Dornaus & Dixon went out of business in 1986, and Smith & Wesson was offered a contract to outfit Johnson s character with a S&W Model 645 during season three.

Several firearms never before seen on TV were featured prominently for the first time in the show, including the Glock 17 pistol. In addition, firearms not yet well known to the public, including the Steyr AUG, MAC-10 and the Desert Eagle, were showcased to a wide audience on this show. Even heavy guns came to use, as Zito is seen maneuvering an M60 machine gun from a roof top in the episode Lombard .

Cars

Two automobiles drew a lot of attention in Miami Vice, the Ferrari Daytona and Testarossa. During the first two seasons and two episodes of the third season, Detective Sonny Crockett drove a black 1972 Ferrari Daytona Spyder 365 GTS/4 kit replica built on a Chevrolet Corvette C3 chassis. The car was fitted with Ferrari-shaped body panels by specialty car manufacturer McBurnie Coachcraft. Once the car gained notoriety, Ferrari Automobili filed suit demanding that McBurnie and any others cease and desist producing and selling Ferrari replicas and infringing upon the Ferrari name and styling. As a result, the Daytona lasted until season 2, at which point it was blown-up in the season three premiere episode, When Irish Eyes Are Crying . Neither the kit car nor its backup were actually destroyed, as the production company simply blew up a small, plastic model for both cost and safety reasons. The fake Ferraris were removed from the show, with Ferrari donating two brand new 1986 Testarossas as replacements. The Ferrari Daytona is the subject of a huge continuity goof on the show, when it suddenly reappears in El Viejo , six episodes after its destruction, without explanation. Originally El Viejo was set to be the third-season premiere, but studio executives felt the Daytona s destruction would serve as a more dramatic opening to the season. Don Johnson s contract-holdout at the start of the season also played a part, delaying filming to the point where El Viejo could not finish in time for the season premiere.

The series crew also used a third Testarossa look-alike, which was the stunt car. Carl Roberts, who had worked on the Daytona kit cars, offered to build the stunt car. Roberts decided to use a 1972 De Tomaso Pantera, which had the same wheelbase as the Testarossa and thus was perfect for the body pieces. The vehicle was modified to withstand daily usage on-set, and continued to be driven until the series ended.

Crockett was also seen driving a black 1978 Porsche 911 SC Targa in a flashback to 1980 in the Season 3 episode Forgive Us Our Debts.

Crockett s partner, Ricardo Tubbs, drove a 1964 Cadillac Coupe de Ville Convertible. Stan Switek drove a turquoise 1961 Ford Thunderbird. Gina Calabrese drove a 1971 Mercury Cougar XR-7 convertible. When Stan and Larry were undercover, they drove a Dodge Ram Van. Other notable vehicles that appear in Miami Vice include Lamborghinis, AMG Mercedes-Benzes, BMWs, Maseratis, Lotuses, DeLoreans, Porsches, and Corvettes. American muscle cars, such as the Pontiac GTO and Firebird Trans Am, Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, Plymouth GTX and Barracuda, Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, and the Buick Grand National also made appearances.

Boats and flying boats

Throughout the series, Sonny Crockett lives on an Endeavour sailboat, St. Vitus Dance, while in the pilot episode, Crockett is seen on a 38-foot Cabo Rico sailboat. In season 1, he is seen living on an Endeavour 40 sailboat, while in the rest of the series (seasons 2 to 5) he is seen living on an Endeavour 42 sailboat (priced at $120,000 in 1986). The allure of the sailboats was such that the Endeavour 42 used for the 1986 season of Miami Vice was sold to a midwest couple, while the Endeavour 40, was sold to a chartering service in Fort Lauderdale. At the same time, Endeavour was building a new 42 for the 1987 season of Miami Vice.

In the pilot episode, and for the first season, Crockett piloted a Chris-Craft Stinger 390 X – a 39-foot deep-v offshore racing boat. For the other four Stingers, Chris-Craft showed the production crew a color scheme that included the red – however, since Michael Mann decided that the color red was to never show up on the show, a blue color scheme was chosen instead. The Stingers used on the show were not free from Chris-Craft. This situation caused the production team to switch to using Wellcraft 38 Scarab KVs for the remainder of the show. The Scarab 38 KVs were a 28-hued, twin 440-hp boat that sold for $130,000 in 1986.

As a result of the attention the Scarab 38 KV garnered on Miami Vice, Wellcraft received “an onslaught of orders , increasing sales by twenty-one percent in one year. In appreciation, Wellcraft gave Don Johnson an exact duplicate of the boat. Afterward, Johnson was frequently seen arriving to work in it. Altogether, one hundred copies of the boat (dubbed the Scarab 38KV Miami Vice Edition ) were built by Wellcraft. The Miami Vice graphics and color scheme, which include turquoise, aqua, and orchid, was available by special order on any model Scarab from 20 to 38 feet.

Don Johnson also participated in the design of the Scarab Excel 43 ft, Don Johnson Signature Series (DJSS), and raced a similar one. The Don Johnson Signature Series was powered by twin 650-hp Lamborghini V-12 engines, which caused some problems to the design of the boat due to their size. Overall the boat cost $300,000 with each engine amounting to between $60–$70,000. His interest in boat racing eventually led Johnson to start his own offshore powerboat racing team, named Team USA. Joining him were Hollywood stars including Kurt Russell and Chuck Norris. Johnson won the Offshore World Cup in 1988 and continued racing into the 1990s.

In both the pilot episode, Brother s Keeper , and the season 4 episode, Baseballs of Death , a Grumman Turbo Mallard (G-73T) amphibious airplane (registration # N2969) made an appearance. In the former episode, the drug dealer Calderone used N2969 to successfully escape from Crockett and Tubbs at the climax of the episode. In the latter episode, Guerrero made an attempt to escape from the vice team in N2969 but ran out of fuel and was killed after he stole a fisherman s boat that ran ashore and exploded. In December 2005, N2969 suffered a catastrophic structural failure when the right wing separated from the fuselage as the plane climbed out of Miami bound for the Bahamas. Both crew members and all 18 passengers were killed upon water impact. N2969 was completely destroyed.

Episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
1	23		September 16, 1984	May 10, 1985
2	23		September 27, 1985	May 9, 1986
3	24		September 26, 1986	May 8, 1987
4	22		September 25, 1987	May 6, 1988
5	21		November 4, 1988	January 25, 1990

Overview

Scripts are loosely based on actual crimes that occurred in Miami over the years. This includes both local and international and global organized crime. Many episodes focus on drug trafficking (for which real-life Miami was a main hub and entrance point into North America in the early 1980s). Other episodes are based on crimes such as firearms trafficking, for which Miami was equally a gateway for sales to Latin America, as well as the Miami River Cops scandal (a real police corruption ring that involves narcotic thefts, drug dealing and murders), street prostitution, serial home burglaries, crimes committed by Cuban immigrants to Miami following the Mariel Boatlift, and Yakuza and Mafia activity in Miami. The series also took a look at political issues such as the Northern Ireland conflict, the drug war in South America (e.g. Prodigal Son ), U.S. support of generals and dictators in Southeast Asia and South America, and the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Social issues like child abuse, homophobia, and the AIDS crisis are also covered.

Personal issues also arose: Crockett separates from his wife Caroline (Belinda Montgomery) in the pilot and divorces in the fourth episode, and later his second wife Caitlin Davies (Sheena Easton) is killed by one of his enemies. In the three episodes Mirror Image , Hostile Takeover , and Redemption in Blood , a concussion caused by an explosion causes Crockett to believe he was his undercover alter ego Sonny Burnett, a drug dealer. Tubbs had a running, partly personal vendetta with the Calderone family, a member of which orders the death of his brother Rafael, a New York City police detective. Lieutenant Martin Castillo is also frequently haunted by his past in Southeast Asia, which he had spent as a DEA agent in the Golden Triangle.

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In the first seasons the tone was lighter, especially when comical characters such as police informants Noogie Lamont (Charlie Barnett) and Izzy Moreno (Martin Ferrero) appears. Later the content was darker and cynical, with Crockett and Tubbs fighting corruption, and storylines emphasizing the aspect of human tragedy behind a crime. The darker episodes sometimes lacks a denouement, each episode ending abruptly after a climax involving violence and death, often giving the episodes a despairing and sometimes nihilistic feel, despite the trademark glamor and conspicuous wealth.

Given its idiosyncratic dark feel and touch, Miami Vice is frequently cited as an example of made-for-TV neo-noir. Michael Mann, who serves as executive producer for the majority of the show s five-year run, is often credited with being one of the most influential neo-noir directors. The second-season episode Out Where the Buses Don t Run ranks #90 on TV Guide s 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time list.

Changes

During its five-year run, Miami Vice underwent several noticeable changes in its formula and content. Between seasons one and two, however, these changes were mostly subtle and involves details such as the degree of perfection with which color shades of scene backdrops, props and clothing are matched to each other.

For its third season in 1986–87 after the cancellation of Knight Rider, the show moved from its traditional time slot of 10 pm on Friday nights to 9 pm, which now put it up against perennial Top 10 show Dallas. This began the show s decline, and in March, 1987, TV Guide ran a cover story entitled, Dallas Drubs the Cops: Why Miami Vice Seems to be Slipping. Miami Vice s season ratings slipps from #9 in Season 2 down to #27 by the end of Season 3.

Before leaving the series to work on his new television series, Crime Story, Michael Mann hands the role of executive producer to future Law & Order creator Dick Wolf prior to the third season (1986–1987). Wolf had the show focus on contemporary issues like the Troubles in Northern Ireland and capital punishment.

In addition to losing the battle against new timeslot rival Dallas, the general tone of season 3 episodes starts to become more serious and less lighthearted than in previous seasons. Comedic scenes and subplots became distinctly rare. True to Dick Wolf s grabbed from the headlines approach which he later employs in TV series like Law & Order, storylines focus more on the serious human aspect of crime than on glamorizing the tropical lifestyles of drug dealers and other high-profile criminals. This shift in tone also reflects in the series fashions, color schemes, and its choice of music. The cast starts wearing pronouncedly dark clothing and even earthtones, which had famously been avoided by executive producer Michael Mann in seasons one and two. Color palettes of scene backdrops start becoming much darker as well, with pastels replaced by harsher-appearing shades of neon. Whereas seasons one and two always feature a diverse selection of contemporary, mostly upbeat chart music and classic rock and pop, the third season s music lineup became much more somber, with songs like In Dulce Decorum by The Damned, Lives in the Balance by Jackson Browne, Mercy by Steve Jones, and Never Let Me Down Again (Aggro Mix) by Depeche Mode. All these changes are decidedly unwelcome both by critics and by many viewers who had become fans of the TV series due to the package that the first two seasons delivers. It causes the producers to retool their approach to Miami Vice for the following fourth season.

By Season 4, most of the original writers had left the series. Stories and story arcs include a courtship and marriage between Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Caitlin Davies (Sheena Easton), and a plot in which Crockett develops amnesia (during which he mistakes himself for his drug dealer alter ego, and becomes a hitman). Moreover, Caroline Crockett, Sonny s first wife, as well as his son Billy reappear briefly.

Jan Hammer departs from the series at the end of the fourth season, having already handed much of the weekly scoring workload during the season over to John Petersen. The tone of many season 4 episodes grew lighter again, albeit sometimes veering off into the bizarre, e.g. episodes like The Big Thaw , Missing Hours , and The Cows of October . Fashions and scene backdrops largely reassumes the pastel hues of seasons 1 and 2, and the choice of music became more varied again. Hopes by the producers of propitiating former and remaining fans this way only materializing very mutedly, and reception was lukewarm, as evidenced by the show s still declining ratings during season four.

The fifth season (1988–1989) saw the show return to its original timeslot, 10 pm on Friday nights and took the show on a yet more serious tone, with storylines becoming dark and gritty – enough so that even some of the most loyal fans are left perplexed. Tim Truman took over scoring the episodes for the remainder of the series run and brought with him a style of instrumental synthesizer music that was markedly different from Jan Hammer s.

Cancellation

After still-deteriorating ratings during the fourth season, NBC originally planned to order just a shortened fifth season of only 13 episodes, but eventually settled for another full run, which was, either way, going to be the final season. At the beginning of season five, Olivia Brown recalled, The show was trying to reinvent itself. Dick Wolf said in an interview for E! True Hollywood Story, after the fifth season, it was all just ...kind of over , and that the show had run its course .

In May 1989, NBC aired the two-hour series finale, Freefall . Despite its status as the series finale , there were three episodes that did not air ( World of Trouble , Miracle Man , and Leap of Faith ), which appears during the June re-runs as Lost Episodes . A fourth, previously unaired episode, Too Much Too Late , was aired for the first time in 1990, on the USA Network. It has since been run by other networks in syndication with the fifth-season episodes.

Cast

Name	Portrayed by	Occupation	Seasons					Duration
			1	2	3	4	5
James Sonny Crockett	Don Johnson	Detective Sergeant	Main					1x01–5x21
Ricardo Rico Tubbs	Philip Michael Thomas	Detective Sergeant	Main					1x01–5x21
Gina Navarro Calabrese	Saundra Santiago	Detective	Main					1x01–5x21
Stanley Stan Switek	Michael Talbott	Detective	Main					1x01–5x21
Lawrence Larry Zito	John Diehl	Detective	Main					1x01–3x13
Trudy Joplin	Olivia Brown	Detective	Main					1x01–5x21
Lou Rodriguez	Gregory Sierra	Detective Lieutenant	Main					1x01–1x04
Martin Marty Castillo	Edward James Olmos	Detective Lieutenant	Main					1x06–5x21

Main characters

• Don Johnson as Detective James Sonny Crockett: An undercover detective of the Metro-Dade Police Department. A former University of Florida Gators star wide receiver, he sustains a knee injury which put an end to his sports career. He served two tours in Vietnam – or as he calls it, the Southeast Asia Conference . In 1975 he became a Metro-Dade uniformed patrol officer and later an undercover detective of the vice unit. Crockett s alias is Sonny Burnett, a drug runner and middleman. His vehicles include a Ferrari Daytona Spyder (later a Ferrari Testarossa), a Scarab offshore power-boat, and a sailboat on which he lives with his pet alligator Elvis. The name Sonny Crockett had previously been used for a criminal played by actor Dennis Burkley on Hill Street Blues in 1983, where creator Anthony Yerkovich was a writer. Coincidentally, Gregory Sierra who later plays Crockett s boss on Vice appears in the same episodes.
• Philip Michael Thomas as Detective Ricardo Rico Tubbs: A former New York police detective who travels to Miami as part of a personal vendetta against Calderone, the man who murders his brother Rafael. After temporarily teaming up with Crockett, Tubbs follows his friend s advice and transfers to a career in Southern law enforcement , fearing that after his serious violations of NYPD codes of conduct in the pilot episode, he would not be able to resume his job in New York. He joins the Miami department and becomes Crockett s permanent partner. He often poses as Rico Cooper, a wealthy buyer from out of town.
• Edward James Olmos as Lieutenant Martin Marty Castillo: He replaces the slain Rodriguez as head of the OCB. A very taciturn man, Castillo lives a reclusive life outside of work. He was formerly a DEA commanding officer in the Golden Triangle of Southeast Asia during the late 1970s. During his time as a DEA commanding officer, he opposes the CIA in endorsing the trafficking of heroin to finance their overseas operations.
• Saundra Santiago as Detective Regina Gina Navarro Calabrese: A fearless female detective, who after Crockett s divorce, held a brief romance with him. Even after their relationship did not progress, they still have a strong friendship.
• Olivia Brown as Detective Trudy Joplin: Gina s patrol partner. Though tough, she sometimes struggles to face consequences of her job, such as when she shoots and kills a man. Later in the series she has an encounter with a UFO and an alien portrayed by James Brown.
• Michael Talbott as Detective Stanley Stan Switek: A fellow police detective and Larry Zito s best friend. Although a good policeman, later on in the series he falls prey to a gambling addiction. He is also a big fan of Elvis Presley.
• John Diehl (1984–1987) as Detective Lawrence Larry Zito: A detective and Switek s surveillance partner and best friend. He is killed in the line of duty when a drug dealer gives him a fatal overdose.
• Gregory Sierra (1984) as Lieutenant Louis Lou Rodriguez: A police lieutenant who serves as commander of the Vice Unit. He is killed in the fourth episode by an assassin hired to kill Crockett.

Recurring characters

• Charlie Barnett (1984–1987) as Nugart Neville Noogie Lamont: A friend of Izzy s and informant for Crockett and Tubbs. His role was largely taken over by Izzy Moreno after the first season. In his final appearance in Season 4, his role is reduced from street informant to comic relief.
• Sheena Easton (1987–1988) as Caitlin Davies-Crockett: A pop singer who is assigned a police bodyguard, Crockett, for her testimony in a racketeering case. While protecting Caitlin, Sonny falls in love with her and they marry. Months after their marriage, Caitlin is killed by one of Crockett s former nemeses. Sonny later learns she was seven weeks pregnant, causing him further emotional turmoil.
• Martin Ferrero (1984–1989) as Isidore Izzy Moreno: A petty criminal and fast talker, Izzy is always known for getting into quick money schemes and giving Crockett and Tubbs the latest information from the street.
• Jose Perez (1985, 1989) as Juan Carlos Silva, a drug dealer and father of Rosetta Silva, and as Jorge Georgie Esteban, cousin of Izzy Moreno.
• Pam Grier (1985, 1989) as Valerie Gordon: A New York Police Department Officer and on-and-off love interest of Tubbs.
• Belinda Montgomery (1984–1989) as Caroline Crockett/Ballard: Crockett s former wife who moves to Ocala, Florida to remarry and raise their child, Billy. Caroline was having a baby with her second husband in her last appearance.

Guest appearances

Many actors, actresses, musicians, comedians, athletes and celebrities appear throughout the show s five-season run. They play many different roles from drug dealers to undercover cops to madams. The full list can be seen at the link above, as this is just a partial list. Musicians include Sheena Easton, John Taylor, Andy Taylor, Willie Nelson, Gene Simmons, and Ted Nugent Additionally Glenn Frey, Frank Zappa, Phil Collins, Miles Davis, Frankie Valli, Little Richard, James Brown, Leonard Cohen, the band Power Station, Coati Mundi, and Eartha Kitt.

Other personalities include auto executive Lee Iacocca and Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy. Athletes include Boston Celtics center Bill Russell, Bernard King, racecar driver Danny Sullivan, and boxers Roberto Durán, and Randall Tex Cobb.

Notable actors include Dean Stockwell, Pam Grier, Clarence Williams III, and Brian Dennehy.

The show frequently features guest appearances from up-and-coming actors and actresses, including: Laurence Fishburne, Viggo Mortensen, Dennis Farina, Stanley Tucci, Jimmy Smits, Bruce McGill, David Strathairn, Ving Rhames, Liam Neeson, Lou Diamond Phillips, Bruce Willis, Ed O Neill, and Julia Roberts. Additionally Michael Madsen, Ian McShane, Bill Paxton, Luis Guzmán, Kyra Sedgwick, Esai Morales, Terry O Quinn, Joaquim de Almeida, Wesley Snipes, John Turturro, Melanie Griffith and Annie Golden to name a few. Notable comedians included: John Leguizamo, David Rasche, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Tommy Chong, Richard Belzer, and Penn Jillette.

Reception

Awards and nominations

Ratings

Season	Time slot (ET)	Rank	Rating
1984–85	Sunday at 9:00pm (Episode 1) Sunday at 10:00pm (Episode 2) Friday at 10:00pm (Episodes 3-23)	Not in the Top 30
1985–86	Friday at 9:00pm (Episode 1) Friday at 10:00pm (Episodes 2–23)	9	21.3
1986–87	Friday at 9:00pm	26	16.8 (Tied with Knots Landing)
1987–88	Friday at 9:00pm (Episodes 1–18) Friday at 10:00pm (Episodes 19–22)	Not in the Top 30
1988–89	Friday at 10:00pm (Episodes 1–8, 14) Friday at 9:00pm (Episodes 9–13, 15–16) Sunday at 9:00pm (Episode 17) Sunday at 10:00pm (Episode 18) Wednesday at 10:00pm (Episodes 19–21)

Series Finale: 22 million viewers & a 14.7 rating on May 21, 1989 from 9 to 11 pm. Competition: Everybody s Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure (22.9 rating) & Mickey Spillane s Mike Hammer: Murder Takes All (12.8 rating)

Final Airing on NBC: 16.1 million viewers/11.1 rating (June 28, 1989) China Beach drew 10.8 million viewers/8 rating.

Critical response

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (February 2017)

Critics object to the show s usage of violence by dressing it with pretty photography. Others complain that the show relies more on visual aspects and music than on coherent stories and fully drawn characters. Civic leaders in Miami have also objected to the show s airing of the city s crime problems all across America. Most civic leaders, however, were placated due to the show s estimated contribution of $1 million per episode to the city s economy and because it boosted tourism to Miami. Gerald S. Arenberg of the National Association of Chiefs of Police criticized the show s glamorous depiction of vice squads, saying no real vice cops chase drug dealers in a Ferrari while wearing $600 suits. More often than not, they re holed up in a crummy room somewhere, wearing jeans with holes in them, watching some beat-up warehouse in a godforsaken part of town through a pair of dented binoculars .

At the 1985 Emmy Awards Miami Vice was nominated for 15 Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series , Outstanding Film Editing , Outstanding Achievement for Music Composition for a series (dramatic underscore) , and Outstanding Directing . At the end of the night, Miami Vice only won four Emmys. The following day, the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner could only conclude that the conservative Emmy voters (at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences) simply refused to recognize an innovative new series that celebrates hedonism, violence, sex, and drugs.

Television critics Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz ranked Miami Vice as the 51st greatest American television series of all time in their 2016 book titled TV (The Book), with Seitz stating how the show was more influenced by 1960s art house cinema from Europe than by any other contemporary television drama: Miami Vice superimposed ripped-from-the-headlines details about drug smuggling, arms dealing, and covert war onto a pastel noir dreamscape. It gave American TV its first visionary existential drama .

Impact on popular culture

Miami Vice was a groundbreaking police program of the 1980s. It had a notable impact on the decade s popular fashions and set the tone for the evolution of police drama. Series such as Homicide: Life on the Street, NYPD Blue, and the Law & Order franchise, though being markedly different in style and theme from Miami Vice, follows its lead in breaking the genre s mold; Dick Wolf, creator and executive producer of the Law & Order franchise, was a writer and later executive producer of Miami Vice. Parodies and pastiches of it have continued decades after it airs, such as the Only Fools and Horses Christmas episode Miami Twice (1991) and Moonbeam City (2015).

The video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, published by Rockstar Games in 2002, is heavily inspired by Miami Vice in multiple ways. It is set in a stylized 1980s Miami inspired fictional city named Vice City . One of the main characters, Lance Vance, was actually voiced by Philip Michael Thomas. Two undercover police officers appear in a police sports car within the game when the player obtains a three-star wanted level. The two officers, one white and one black, resemble the two leading characters of Miami Vice. In the prequel, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, there are two officers in the multiplayer mode named Cracker and Butts, a parody of Crockett and Tubbs; these characters share the same role as the undercover cops in Vice City.

Many of the fashion styles and trends popularized by the TV show, such as fast cars and speed boats, unshaven beard stubble, a T-shirt under pastel suits, no socks, rolled up sleeves, boat shoes and Ray Ban sunglasses symbolize the stereotypical image of 1980s fashion and culture.

It has built an awareness of Miami in young people who had never thought of visiting Miami.

—William CullomFormer President of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce

The show also had a lasting impact on Miami itself. It drew a large amount of media attention to the beginning revitalization of the South Beach and Art Deco District areas of Miami Beach, as well as other portions of Greater Miami, and increases tourism and investment. Even 30 years after Miami Vice first airs, it is still responsible for its share of tourist visits to the city. The fact that Crockett and Tubbs were Dade County officers and not City of Miami police represents the growing notion of metro government in Miami. In 1997, a county referendum changed the name from Dade County to Miami-Dade County. This allows people to relate the county government to recognize notions and images of Miami, many of which arere first popularized by Miami Vice. The Dade County Sheriff s Office now became the Miami-Dade Police Department. The Overwatch League s Florida Mayhem who represents the cities of Miami and Orlando on January 6, 2020 announces the change of their color scheme to a Miami Vice-inspired Black Neon Pink and Neon Blue.

Home media

Universal Studios has released all Miami Vice seasons on DVD for regions 1, 2, and 4. Seasons 1 & 2 were released in 2005, and seasons 3 through 5 were released in 2007. The DVD release of the series had been significantly slow due to one of the signature features of the show: the heavy integration of 1980s pop and rock music. The music was difficult to source the rights to and acquire permission to use. (On at least one VHS release of the pilot, The Rolling Stones song Miss You had been replaced by generic rock music.) In the November 2004 announcement for the DVD release of the series, Universal promises that all original music in the series would be intact. On August 21, 2007 Universal announces the November 13, 2007 release of the complete series, with all five seasons on 27 single-sided DVDs. The seasons are in their own Digipak-style cases, and the set is housed in a faux alligator-skin package. Seasons 1 & 2 contained six single-sided discs, rather than the three double-sided discs in the initial release. The Region 2 version has different packaging, does not use double-sided discs, and although there are no special features stated on the packaging they are contained within the season 1 discs.

On March 8, 2016, it is announced that Mill Creek Entertainment had acquired the rights to the series in Region 1; they subsequently re-released the first two seasons on DVD on May 3, 2016.

On October 4, 2016, Mill Creek re-release Miami Vice – The Complete Series on DVD and also release the complete series on Blu-ray.

DVD name	Ep#	Release dates			Special features
		Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
Season One	21	February 8, 2005	April 25, 2005	July 13, 2005	The Vibe of Vice , Building the Perfect Vice , The Music of Vice , Miami After Vice
Season Two	22	November 22, 2005	July 24, 2006	July 20, 2006
Season Three	24	March 20, 2007	May 14, 2007	July 5, 2007
Season Four	22	March 20, 2007	August 13, 2007	December 4, 2007
Season Five	21	June 26, 2007	December 26, 2007	July 29, 2009
Seasons One & Two	43	N/A	November 27, 2006	N/A
The Complete Series	111	November 13, 2007	October 8, 2007	TBA	Same special features from season one.

Condition

New

Amazon ASIN

B00384TSGC

UPC / EAN

025192802324

Year

1984

ReleaseDate

1984-09-16

Awards

Won 4 Primetime Emmys, 13 wins & 29 nominations total

Stars

Don Johnson, Philip Michael Thomas, Saundra Santiago

Series Produced by

Michael Mann, Richard Brams, Donald L. Gold, Michael Attanasio, Dick Wolf, John Nicolella, Daniel Sackheim, Patti Kent, Frederick J. Lyle, Liam O Brien, Ed Waters, Scott Shepherd, Robert Ward, Thomas Cajka, Dennis Cooper, Diane Isaacs, Kerry McCluggage, Christopher Morgan, George E. Crosby, George Geiger, Anthony Yerkovich, Michael Piller, Michael Duggan, Kathleen M. Shea, Mel Swope, Michael B. Hoggan, Tony Amatullo

Series Music by

Jan Hammer, Tim Truman, John Petersen

Series Cinematography by

Oliver Wood, Tom Priestley Jr., Duke Callaghan, James A. Contner, Michael McGowan, Robert E. Collins, William Cronjager, Victor Hammer

Series Film Editing by

Robert A. Daniels, Michael D. Ornstein, Michael B. Hoggan, Kevin Krasny, Douglas Ibold, Dick Williams, Casey O. Rohrs, Robert L. Sinise, Steve Shultz, Jack Horger, Eric A. Sears, Barry B. Leirer, Gene Foster, Buford F. Hayes, David Rosenbloom, David Solomon, Joel Goodman, Dov Hoenig, Sidney Wolinsky, Lawrence J. Gleason, Richard Leeman

Series Casting By

Bonnie Timmermann, Grace Baine

Series Production Design by

William McAllister, Nick Rafter, Michael Helmy, Jeffrey Howard

Series Art Direction by

Jeffrey Howard, Eva Anna Andry, Francis J. Pezza, Pamela Marcotte, Michael Helmy, Norm Baron, J. Mark Harrington, Todd Hallowell, Joel Lang

Series Set Decoration by

Robert Lacey Jr., Steven Potter, Janet Shaw, Frederic C. Weiler

Series Costume Design by

Jodie Lynn Tillen, Eduardo Castro, Richard Shissler, Bambi Breakstone, Bobbie Read

Series Makeup Department

Allan A. Apone, Mary Ann Valdes, Jay Cannistraci, Nick Troiano, Irene Aparicio, Elizabeth Lambert, Vincent Callaghan

Series Production Management

Lou Fusaro, Donald L. Gold, Brooke Kennedy, Steven Felder, Tikki Goldberg, G. Warren Smith, Penny Adams, Ellen Rauch, Ronald Martinez, Zane Radney, John Zane

Series Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

Tommy Burns, Bruce Solow, Michael Attanasio, George Fortmuller, Chip Chalmers, Robert D. Nellans, Marty Eli Schwartz, Robert D. Simon, Tommy Bull, Hope R. Goodwin, James Quinn, Steven Felder, Joel Segal, John Liberti, Scott Laughlin, Garry A. Brown, Herbert W. Gains, Richard Peter Schroer, Ellen Rauch, Magdalen M.T. Brick, Nick Smirnoff, Jan DeWitt, Bob Bender, Leonard R. Garner Jr., Jerome M. Siegel, Robert E. Warren, Jay Tobias, Roger E. Mills, Alan Hopkins, David Kahler, Mary Lou MacLaury, Wayne Carmona, Steve Cohen, David Dreyfuss, Stephen Lofaro, Kevin Williams

Series Art Department

Charles Guanci Jr., Michael Metzel, Fred Schwendel, Billy Schwartz, Joel Lang, Curtis Carlin, Maria Chavez, Dean Taucher, Michael Z. Hanan, Nick Rafter, Peter Politanoff, Amy Marshall, Mary Woronov, Mark Kostabi, Nile Samples, Buddy Griner, William Kellow

Series Sound Department

Joe Foglia, John A. Larsen, Michael R. Tromer, Scott Warren, Mark Weber, Ron Scelza, Joseph D. Citarella, Scott Hecker, Grover B. Helsley, Ed Callahan, Mark P. Stoeckinger, Robert R. Rutledge, Howard Neiman, Gus Mortensen, Vincent Nuccio, Scott Blynder, Bernie Blynder, Bruce Bell, Victor B. Lackey, Ian MacGregor-Scott, Carl Mahakian, Charles E. Moran, John Oettinger, Bernard F. Pincus, Warren Smith, Bruce Stambler, Howard Warren, Michael D. Wilhoit, Paul Wittenberg, Kyle Wright, Lou Angelo, Ray West, Alma Martinez, Edward M. Steidele, Jerry Trent

Series Special Effects by

Bruce E. Merlin, Marc Banich, Marc Mercury, James L. Roberts

Series Visual Effects by

Jim Michaels, Ron Saks

Series Stunts

Ernest Robinson, Paul Nuckles, Rico Paisley, Marc Mercury, Chick Bernhard, Jay Amor, David S. Lomax, Dan Koko, Tom Bahr, Bobby J. Foxworth, Michael R. Long, Jim Ramos Vickers, Desiree Ayres, Marty Eli Schwartz, Ron Bear Berman, Mick O Rourke, Caron Colvett, JayAmor, John Ashby, Anthony Correa, Gene Harrison, Tony Kahana

Series Camera and Electrical Department

James J. Green, J. Steven Latham, Gary Ryan, James Roberts, Egon Stephan Jr., Steven Betolatti

Series Casting Department

Cheryl Louden-Kubin, Lori Wyman, Dee Miller, Marjorie W. Morhaim, R. Colette Hailey, Bonnie Timmermann, Carolyn Stopher, Deborah Aquila, Yonit Hamer, Maria Lombardi, Grace Baine, Michael Dock, Ellen Jacoby, Robert Jacoby, Beverly McDermott, Ron Stephenson, Karen Busell, Lauren Green, Lisa Pantone, Roger Levine

Series Costume and Wardrobe Department

Kristy Aitken Hernandez, Milena Canonero, Lynette Bernay, Richard Shissler, Emae Villalobos, Robert Musco, Gregory B. Peña

Series Editorial Department

Laurence Monier, Michael Schulte, Marc Wielage, Scott Klein, William Fletcher

Series Location Management

Steven Bawol, Sherry Thorup, Ronald L. Carr

Series Music Department

Jan Hammer, Jerry Cohen, Dino A. Moriana, Michael Thompson, Frederick J. Lyle, Charles Paley, Phil Galdston, Ken Kushnick, David Passick, Raymond Coussins, Nicholas Pike, Ron S. Herbes, Stephen Mitchell

Series Script and Continuity Department

Dennis Cooper, Suzanne Waite

Series Transportation Department

Dave Busick, Richard P. Pecora, Vince Pecora, Lou Roth

Series Additional Crew

T. Rafael Cimino, Joel Leshinsky, Tom Brocato, Carole Myers, Moby Griffin, Kevin Williams, Michael Duggan, Elayne Schneiderman Schmidt, Eduardo Castro, David Black, Peter McCabe, Ken Solarz, Raymond Hartung, Joan Egan Foglia, C. Cory M. McCrum-Abdo, Robert Palm, Peter Lance, Joel Surnow, Sara Rogers, John Schulian, Maurice Hurley, Mel Bourne, Henry Hoban, Jim McKeny, Art Smith Jr., James C. Udel, John Mankiewicz, Daniel Pyne, Rodney Saulsberry, Marcia Dripchak, Mark Lafata, Steven Bawol, Francis X. Tobin, Nelson Cabrera, Carole Peterman, Michael Parkhurst

Series Thanks

The Doors, Kay Talbott

Genres

Action, Crime, Drama

Companies

Michael Mann Productions, Universal Television

Countries

USA

Languages

English, Spanish

ContentRating

TV-14

ImDbRating

7.5

ImDb Rating Votes

26677

Short Description

Miami Vice is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James Sonny Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Rico Tubbs, two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. The series ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The USA Network began airing reruns in 1988 and broadcast an originally unaired episode during its syndication run of the series on January 25, 1990.

Unlike standard police procedurals, the show drew heavily upon 1980s New Wave culture and is noted for its integration of contemporary pop and rock music and stylish or stylized visuals. People magazine states that Miami Vice was the first show to look really new and different since color TV was invented .

Michael Mann directed a film adaptation of the series, which was released July 28, 2006.

Keywords

Drugs,famous opening theme,florida,undercover detective,miami florida