Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Miami Vice - The Best Television Of My Life



Now that Sonny Crockett had himself some powerful ennui. Who ever thought that a post-it note with the words MTV Cops on it would spurn another pop culture explosion. I so remember the night this show premiered and how watching the pilot thrilled me while breaking my heart.

Because of the outrageous cost of combining popular music with dramatic television you almost never saw the combination. However, in the Age of Video, the team-up was unavoidable and was a huge selling point for this series. It succeeded spectacularly and became the norm but people forget what a risk this was at the time because it drove up the cost of production. The drama is so much stronger with the great song by Phil Collins powering the emotion and that feeling is what I remember most about this great television moment.

Don Johnson gets the time and the character and the swagger completely right and Phillip Michael Thomas just gives him the Caribbean credibility this series needed to survive and set it set apart from the pack. It set a vivid tale of the Miami drug scene in the 1980s that pushed the limits of network television. I can only imagine what it would look like today if one of the cable networks like HBO or AMC had the property. I suspect it would be much like Scarface with scenes of chainsaw executions and Colombian neckties.


Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as James "Sonny" Crockett and Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Crockett's Theme is forever on repeat inside my head.

Kal said...

Phil Collins. Breaks my heart.

Belle said...

I never watched this show, but I do like Don Johnson. I made a white jacket and bought a pink shirt for my hubby back then because I loved the look. He wore it to church.

Jordan said...

Just curious, Kal: did you like the movie? I thought it was fantastic (especially the longer Director's Cut) but I know I'm in the minority. I thought Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx made an excellent Crockett and Tubbs.

Kal said...

I have never seen it. I am looking for something. Let's see how good or bad it is now that I have Miami Vice on the mind. I usually like Colin Farrel.

Jordan said...

If you watch it, watch the Director's Cut.

I'm curious what you'll think. I'm a big fan of Michael Mann's direct, stripped-down style of storytelling (and his obsession with journalistic realism).

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Thanks to that show, it was cool for men to wear pastels and push their jacket sleeves halfway up their forearms.

Kal said...

It was a good look if you could pull it off. I prefered to look like the Human League.