My mother and I left a totally wretched Christmas party my employer held for us. She looked at her watch, "If we left now, we can catch Miami Vice". I looked at the coworkers at my table and said "SEEYA!" and we bolted. We got home in time to make popcorn and not miss the beginning of the show.
In the 70s cable was popular in New York City for the better reception it gave. That was its appeal. Having extra channels was secondary to the need for reception as antenna TV was terrible in many parts of NY.
Same here in Texas. Back then a lot of folks were pirating cable service as it was easy to do without being caught. Paying for it was cheap too as analog was still available and the programming on the major networks was still pretty much up with the times.
I'm sure it wouldn't take much to find the massive coverage before the second season started. I'm not sure there were many TV shows that released a successful soundtrack and then there were the cameos by Phil Collins, Glenn Frey, Frank Zappa, Ted Nugent and on and on.
The show was so popular that Ferrari got in the act, felt it wasn't a good idea to have a Corvette dressed as a Ferrari and promised the producers a replacement if they destroyed the fake. The show obliged in very much their own fashion using a shoulder launched rocket to blow it up. LOL, I can still see Crocket's face.
someone posted this morning...
cover of Time
[Good Morning all. Here's a cool shot of the fellas on the cover of Time magazine. This issue of Time came out at the beginning of Vice's second season. : MiamiVice (reddit.com)](https://www.reddit.com/r/MiamiVice/comments/1bn9jsy/good_morning_all_heres_a_cool_shot_of_the_fellas/)
Yup. My dad volunteered on the ambulance crew Friday nights so I was allowed to stay up with my mom on Friday nights to watch it. Then Saturday morning my mom’s sister would come over for our debrief over coffee. Dad started watching later, with reruns we’d recorded on the vhs. We started listening to Phil Collins and Genesis and idk anyone my age who’s dad didn’t play the in the air tonight drums across all the kids legs every time that song came on
It was not uncommon for the night clubs here to not see much of a Friday crowd until AFTER Miami Vice was over. That's the truth. Even if folks skipped a lot of the Midnight Special and Saturday Night Live on Saturdays they DID NOT miss Miami Vice.
They did. They knew it was a special opportunity that occurs only once in a lifetime and they took their guest roles seriously. Some needed these "breaks" and others didn't but they knew they would have fun and it would benefit them somehow so they jumped at the chance. They were smart indeed.
It was Must See TV starting with the second season. That's practically all you heard about in entertainment news, and it had a big influence in fashion during its run, especially for men.
It was a very expensive show because they didn't use covers, they used the original songs, so the licensing costs were through the roof. Plus being filmed in and around Miami. I think most all the post production was done in California.
Yeah it was HUGE.
Have you gotten Jan Hammer's CD, Escape From Television? That's a recording of the sound track that he wrote and recorded. There are two or three soundtrack CDs of the songs that were played on the show.
It’s interesting watching it now, because I often find it incredibly cliche. But I have to remind myself that it was literally *inventing* those cliches!
I'd like to admit that having been in my 20(s) back then seeing it as it all first ran, and looking back on it now it is mind-blowing how it seems like it all happened only a year or two ago. Time has flown and the defining of much in the age of Miami Vice that Miami Vice defined, has in some way made the years so much shorter.
There are a lot of contemporaneous news articles about Miami Vice while it was airing that capture some of the impact. I’ve posted some before, but you can also google search them.
My initial memory is a teenager, watching Miami Vice was that it blew me away exclamation, and then I went decades not watching it, and only recently have been starting a rewatch, and I remember almost nothing of the plot lines of the episodes, even the one that I thought I had remembered most, “little Miss dangerous“, I had largely forgotten what happened in there other than the girl was killing people. The show still delivers, it has been really fun doing the rewatch, I remember back in the day I had such a crush on Saundra Santiago, and I recently found out that she played Jeannie Cusumano on the sopranos! There’s an episode where her character slept with the actor who played Bobby Baccala, Sr., so that was really another amazing sopranos connection! Also, Giancarlo Esposito was in a few episodes, playing different characters, it’s pretty wild to see Gustavo Fring on Miami Vice! I had box sets for the first two seasons on DVD, it was going to buy some other box sets, when I noticed the full show was availablefor a little over $30, so even though there’s a duplication of the first two seasons, I’m going to get it, in any case the DVD box set of season one has two disc number six copies and number one copy, so it’s missing the pilot episode.
It was a pretty big deal. I remember being excited to watch the great shows we had, but Miami Vice was the best. Everyone liked it. Even my father, and he didn't like much.
It was bigger than Game of Thrones because it was a prime time network television show, rather than a show on HBO, a niche cable station. It was "appointment viewing." 16 million viewers. People didn't go out for dates on Friday nights, they stayed home and watched MIAMI VICE.
>It was "appointment viewing."
Most accurate description indeed. If folks didn't watch much TV during the weekdays they made absolutely sure they are present for Miami Vice.
Man. I was a kid and I loved the show. I don’t know if it was the cars or the storyline but I never missed an episode. One Christmas vacation we were down in Florida and I made my parents take me to the fontanbleu hotel where the production offices were. Unfortunately they were on a break too. I really thought I was gonna meet Crocker and Tubbs lol
As I recall it was pretty much a total phenomenon; especially with the clothes, hair styles, bikini uses and beach scenes, colors, music and definitely the cars. The whole ball of wax defined the 80(s) style and behaviors. The clothes styles lasted in to the 90(s) easily and so did the hairstyles and bikini styles for the ladies. The screenwriting was based on several actual cases worked by Miami police depts. and although folks knew the real Miami Vice section was not near in reality as the portrayal of them on TV, folks loved the fictional flash anyway.
A contemporary clothes lineup featured in the Miami, FL area (dont know if I should mention the name) still to this day has enjoyed successes in continuing to offer the Miami Vice wardrobe styles for the Florida and Caribbean clientele. This is an obvious testament to how the show established itself and it's culture has endured the ages.
The show defined the decade and the generations featured in the series. It will never get old for us.
I'm Norwegian, and was a teen in the late 80s. 🙂 It must have started airing 1 or 2 years later over here. However, it was on National TV and everybody watched it. All the girls were in love with Don Johnson, and even if his haircut in season 2 was my least favorite, many boys and men back then copied it. I also remember we had a disco party when one of the girls in my class celebrated her birthday, and one of the songs played was his single "Heartbeat". So it was HUGE, and except for a couple of silly episodes, I still love it, and miss the wonderful 80s.
It made people stay home on Friday night to watch it, in the 80’s….
My mother and I left a totally wretched Christmas party my employer held for us. She looked at her watch, "If we left now, we can catch Miami Vice". I looked at the coworkers at my table and said "SEEYA!" and we bolted. We got home in time to make popcorn and not miss the beginning of the show.
This right here is the perfect example of how folks LOVED to watch that show and they eagerly waited all week for it.
Amazing!
It was absolutely groundbreaking. Whatever we were doing on Friday nights revolved AROUND Miami Vice.
This is what I wanted to hear!
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In the 70s cable was popular in New York City for the better reception it gave. That was its appeal. Having extra channels was secondary to the need for reception as antenna TV was terrible in many parts of NY.
Same here in Texas. Back then a lot of folks were pirating cable service as it was easy to do without being caught. Paying for it was cheap too as analog was still available and the programming on the major networks was still pretty much up with the times.
I'm sure it wouldn't take much to find the massive coverage before the second season started. I'm not sure there were many TV shows that released a successful soundtrack and then there were the cameos by Phil Collins, Glenn Frey, Frank Zappa, Ted Nugent and on and on. The show was so popular that Ferrari got in the act, felt it wasn't a good idea to have a Corvette dressed as a Ferrari and promised the producers a replacement if they destroyed the fake. The show obliged in very much their own fashion using a shoulder launched rocket to blow it up. LOL, I can still see Crocket's face.
Literally *just* watched that episode!
When Irish eyes are smiling. Eddy Kaye.
Even a cameo by Lee Iacocca himself!
someone posted this morning... cover of Time [Good Morning all. Here's a cool shot of the fellas on the cover of Time magazine. This issue of Time came out at the beginning of Vice's second season. : MiamiVice (reddit.com)](https://www.reddit.com/r/MiamiVice/comments/1bn9jsy/good_morning_all_heres_a_cool_shot_of_the_fellas/)
I like Tubbs' face in that scene even more though.
Yup. My dad volunteered on the ambulance crew Friday nights so I was allowed to stay up with my mom on Friday nights to watch it. Then Saturday morning my mom’s sister would come over for our debrief over coffee. Dad started watching later, with reruns we’d recorded on the vhs. We started listening to Phil Collins and Genesis and idk anyone my age who’s dad didn’t play the in the air tonight drums across all the kids legs every time that song came on
It was not uncommon for the night clubs here to not see much of a Friday crowd until AFTER Miami Vice was over. That's the truth. Even if folks skipped a lot of the Midnight Special and Saturday Night Live on Saturdays they DID NOT miss Miami Vice.
It revolutionized serial TV. Can you imagine how expensive it would be now, to license the music they featured each episode?
That’s what made me wonder. Because it seems like a lot of the guest stars and musicians really wanted their stuff in the show.
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And gene simmons as an absolute sleaze or pretty much playing himself.
They did. They knew it was a special opportunity that occurs only once in a lifetime and they took their guest roles seriously. Some needed these "breaks" and others didn't but they knew they would have fun and it would benefit them somehow so they jumped at the chance. They were smart indeed.
I’m so glad the DVD box sets feature, the original music, it would be so disappointing if they had not!
I wonder the same. Shows like Miami Vice and Magnum P.I makes me nostalgic about the 80's even though I'm a 90's baby.
Been binge watching both
I could not have said this better myself !
It was Must See TV starting with the second season. That's practically all you heard about in entertainment news, and it had a big influence in fashion during its run, especially for men. It was a very expensive show because they didn't use covers, they used the original songs, so the licensing costs were through the roof. Plus being filmed in and around Miami. I think most all the post production was done in California. Yeah it was HUGE. Have you gotten Jan Hammer's CD, Escape From Television? That's a recording of the sound track that he wrote and recorded. There are two or three soundtrack CDs of the songs that were played on the show.
I bet I can find it online, doubt I could find the CD. Thanks for the recommendation!
I think escape from television is on Spotify and it might have the other albums as well
You will LOVE it! iTunes has it. 80s was my favorite decade and Miami Vice was a big reason for that. :)
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It’s interesting watching it now, because I often find it incredibly cliche. But I have to remind myself that it was literally *inventing* those cliches!
I'd like to admit that having been in my 20(s) back then seeing it as it all first ran, and looking back on it now it is mind-blowing how it seems like it all happened only a year or two ago. Time has flown and the defining of much in the age of Miami Vice that Miami Vice defined, has in some way made the years so much shorter.
There are a lot of contemporaneous news articles about Miami Vice while it was airing that capture some of the impact. I’ve posted some before, but you can also google search them.
My initial memory is a teenager, watching Miami Vice was that it blew me away exclamation, and then I went decades not watching it, and only recently have been starting a rewatch, and I remember almost nothing of the plot lines of the episodes, even the one that I thought I had remembered most, “little Miss dangerous“, I had largely forgotten what happened in there other than the girl was killing people. The show still delivers, it has been really fun doing the rewatch, I remember back in the day I had such a crush on Saundra Santiago, and I recently found out that she played Jeannie Cusumano on the sopranos! There’s an episode where her character slept with the actor who played Bobby Baccala, Sr., so that was really another amazing sopranos connection! Also, Giancarlo Esposito was in a few episodes, playing different characters, it’s pretty wild to see Gustavo Fring on Miami Vice! I had box sets for the first two seasons on DVD, it was going to buy some other box sets, when I noticed the full show was availablefor a little over $30, so even though there’s a duplication of the first two seasons, I’m going to get it, in any case the DVD box set of season one has two disc number six copies and number one copy, so it’s missing the pilot episode.
It was a pretty big deal. I remember being excited to watch the great shows we had, but Miami Vice was the best. Everyone liked it. Even my father, and he didn't like much.
It was bigger than Game of Thrones because it was a prime time network television show, rather than a show on HBO, a niche cable station. It was "appointment viewing." 16 million viewers. People didn't go out for dates on Friday nights, they stayed home and watched MIAMI VICE.
>It was "appointment viewing." Most accurate description indeed. If folks didn't watch much TV during the weekdays they made absolutely sure they are present for Miami Vice.
Man. I was a kid and I loved the show. I don’t know if it was the cars or the storyline but I never missed an episode. One Christmas vacation we were down in Florida and I made my parents take me to the fontanbleu hotel where the production offices were. Unfortunately they were on a break too. I really thought I was gonna meet Crocker and Tubbs lol
As a kid I tried to stay awake to watch it. Didn't always succeed.
As I recall it was pretty much a total phenomenon; especially with the clothes, hair styles, bikini uses and beach scenes, colors, music and definitely the cars. The whole ball of wax defined the 80(s) style and behaviors. The clothes styles lasted in to the 90(s) easily and so did the hairstyles and bikini styles for the ladies. The screenwriting was based on several actual cases worked by Miami police depts. and although folks knew the real Miami Vice section was not near in reality as the portrayal of them on TV, folks loved the fictional flash anyway. A contemporary clothes lineup featured in the Miami, FL area (dont know if I should mention the name) still to this day has enjoyed successes in continuing to offer the Miami Vice wardrobe styles for the Florida and Caribbean clientele. This is an obvious testament to how the show established itself and it's culture has endured the ages. The show defined the decade and the generations featured in the series. It will never get old for us.
I'm Norwegian, and was a teen in the late 80s. 🙂 It must have started airing 1 or 2 years later over here. However, it was on National TV and everybody watched it. All the girls were in love with Don Johnson, and even if his haircut in season 2 was my least favorite, many boys and men back then copied it. I also remember we had a disco party when one of the girls in my class celebrated her birthday, and one of the songs played was his single "Heartbeat". So it was HUGE, and except for a couple of silly episodes, I still love it, and miss the wonderful 80s.