Miami Vice - Season One discussion

Miami Vice is on Netflix so it is easy to watch individual episodes. I just finished watching through season 1 and if anyone would like to discuss Season 1 we can do it here in this thread. The first two episodes were like a 2 part movie. I gotta say that I don't remember Tubbs the way I am seeing him. He was a much more active character than I remember. And I am so glad they got the music rights for the release of this series.

 

I've been meaning to rewatch this show in its entirety since it became available on home video. It was such a big part of my childhood, but the odd show or clip I've seen recently left me thinking that it hasn't held up so well. Back in the day though it was soooo gorgeous and cool.

dan c

 

And Amen brother to that!
I 'm taking the leisurely route through the series' dvds, having never seen all the shows the first time round. Right now I'm on season 4. Was a little disappointed to see the color scheme leave the pastels, though.

 

Tubbs was more active in Season 1, he probably had slowed down by Season 2. The show also had it (in the beginning) that Tubbs was much younger than Sonny. As the seasons progressed, they seemed to become around the same age.

 

In the early years, Tubbs's chosen weapon was the shotgun. I thought this a neat counter to Crockett's automatic.

 

In the first season, Tubbs seemed to dominate the storyline more. He was the one with all of the love affairs. He was the dancer. He had all the smooth lines. I especially like the scene in the first episode where he was in the bar, singing and dancing to the music. He also got a lot of the undercover assignments using his Jamaican accent for his cover stories. You've got to love Elvis the alligator. Some things in the first episode that struck me were seeing Sonny's marriage problems. This was a relatively new concept for TV. We knew there were problems with marriage in police work, but I don't recall seeing a story prior to this were you saw the couple struggling with the marriage. The real zinger in the premiere though was Sonny's friend who was at his son's birthday party, being involved in the death of his partner. It took the bad cop theme to a whole new level.

 

love Miami vice. I never watched it during it's first run during the 80s, hey it played on Friday nights. but when it repeated on usa network later I got into it. I have the dvds, but it really needs to be released on blu ray, one day hopefully.

chad

 

Great thread! One of my favorite shows. My girlfriend and I just finished watching most of the series (I had watched Season One a few years back) this summer. We should definitely watch season one again, though. I'll post my thoughts here as we go.

 

I was hooked completely during the first season. I got wind of the music being used by an article in the paper (Todd's Tiny Demons, Police's Tea in the Sahara) and was taken by how different the show was to anything else that was on and any cop shows that had come before. Wasn't season one the Bruce Willis episode? And the excellent William Russ performance in "Evan"? I was surprised how the ending of that one left Crockett looking like an a-hole.

 

"Tried to tell you fellas...I got the juice!"

 

http://miamivice.wikia.com/wiki/Season_1_Music I found this link to all the music in Miami Vice - it has the titles of the song and the name of the artist who performed the song.

 

Very cool!

My girlfriend and I used Shazam on her phone to identify songs we didn't know when we watched though the series recently. A number of times I tried to guess (when I didn't know the song, but the singer sounded familiar) and she checked using Shazam. I was almost always right.

 

The pilot was originally broadcast as a two-hour show, starting with Tubbs staking out Calderone to "Miss You" and ending with the famous Phil Collins sequence and the "have you ever considered a career in southern law enforcement" line.

Yes the story lines were more balanced between Crockett and Tubbs early on but by the 2nd season it was more The Don Johnson Show with PMT as a sidekick instead of an equal. I remember them playing "You Belong To The City" while Crockett walks around New York, even though it's Tubbs who's from NYC.

 

Tubbs dropping the shotgun on the punks in the pilot teaser was awesome.

 

A couple of other things about the series in general.
This was probably the first series about undercover police work that had any semblence of reality to it.
I loved the seeing them test the cocaine, instead of tasing or ingesting it. This was something a a real businessman would likely do.
Very few if any racial barriers in this series. Black, white, latino, all partying together in bars. Was PMT hired because of his dancig ability. He seems to do a lot of dancing in the stories.

Viet Nam vets protrayed in a positive light. Not sure why this struck me, but it seemed during the 70's the Viet nam vets were not treated to kindly. Heven't seen why yet, but Sonny was a vet, who could have had a footback scholarship, and ended up as a teacher - yet he bacame a cop.

 

I have an odd relationship with this show. It premiered in the UK on Thursday the 7th of Febuary 1985. We VCR'd it to watch later. We were watching it Saturday lunchtime when the call came through from my mum that my grandfather who I loved so much had died.

I never watched another episode. Never could. Strange but true.

Maybe one day.

 

PMT fancied himself as a multi-talent... he wore a custom-made "EGOT" necklace for his goal of winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony (he won none of them). So I'm sure he thought he was a great dancer too.

Sonny did win a football scholarship - he was a star wide receiver for the Florida Gators in college. He suffered a career-ending knee injury which he uses as his excuse not to dance.

 

USA today used to publish the song titles/artists the day of the bcast. I used to actually buy the paper for that.

 

I've been watching this series on Netflix. I kept looking for an episode that had an alternate beginning. The 2 girls walk out with jackets on instead of bathing suits. I know I saw this and I seem to remember it was in an episode with Stan and Larry featured. But last night I had worked my way though the series to the episode where one of them gets killed. Still no opening. Am I getting senile? I thought the episodes were supposed to on be DVD (or Netflix) the way they originally aired. I am wondering if there actually was an alternate opening sequence.

 

Google is your friend. http://www.miamiviceonline.com/foru...iami-vice-season-one-alternate-opening-titles

 

The pilot had an extended opening that segued right into Sonny with Jimmy Smits, rather than the ending chord of the theme with the skyline shot. And the first few episodes had a different mix of the theme song, before Jan Hammer overdubbed the famous "guitar" synthesizer line. I don't remember girls in jackets though.

ETA: looks like MYKE found it!

 

I vaguely remember the opening 'blooper'. My memory was that it was a deliberate 'error' thrown in to see if 'everyone was awake'.
I have a memory that someone form the show said that it was conscious decision to do it once just for a smile.

Am I remembering this at all accurately?

 

The Vimeo link inside no workie.

 

Aw man, shame the link isn't working anymore.

I remember that!!! I do I do! Though I was young at the time I thought it was a funny wink to us fanboys watching the show. I didn't realize it was a one-time airing though. Crazy.

dan c

 

Been meaning to watch this again.

Darryl