Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and executive-produced by Michael Mann for NBC. It 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, Florida. The series ran for five seasons on NBC from September 16, 1984, to June 28, 1989, airing on Friday nights.
Unlike traditional police procedurals, Miami Vice drew upon 1980s culture such as contemporary rock and pop music, fashion, and sports cars. Although the series explored a number of different approaches during its five-year run, it generally prioritized music and stylized visuals over elaborate writing.
USA Network began airing reruns of the series on cable in 1988. The series heavily inspired the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Mann directed a film adaptation, released in 2006. Another film adaptation was announced in 2025, to be directed by Joseph Kosinski and written by Dan Gilroy.
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, disputes that story. Film critic Matt Seitz quotes Yerkovich as saying, "Brandon didn't start telling people that ridiculous story of writing 'MTV cops' on a napkin until at least 14 months after the pitch meeting." Yerkovich said 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. With the backing of Kerry McCluggage, senior vice-president of creative affairs for Universal Television, and MCA/Universal president Robert Harris, Yerkovich sold the project to NBC as a weekly drama in 1983 and began writing a pilot script. The two-hour pilot, originally titled Gold Coast, was renamed 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:One of the show's directors, Lee H. Katzin, stated that "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 helped make the series an instant hit. Its first season saw an unprecedented 15 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:
Miami Vice was one of the first American network television programs to be broadcast in stereophonic sound. It is mixed in stereo for its entire run. Each episode of the series cost $2 million.
Casting
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. But Yerkovich was convinced about Don Johnson being the right person for the role. He asked to read the scripts of Johnson's work on those failed shows. He reported back that the scripts were the problem, not the actor, and NBC acquiesced. 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
Despite the Miami setting, the producers initially planned to film the series in Los Angeles. However, by the time production began, the decision had been made to shoot in Miami itself. 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 Los Angeles. 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 rock and pop 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. 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:Several artists guest-star in episodes, including Leonard Cohen, Phil Collins, Miles Davis, the 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. Hammer later recalled in interviews that Michael Mann told him that as soon as the show's production would start, Mann wanted him to "run with it". 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", remained at the top of the United States 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, Snapshots, and after many requests from fans, Miami Vice: The Complete Collection.
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 U.S. 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 introduced 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 increased 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 Vices fashions continued into the early 1990s and, to some extent, has had a lasting impact.