Sometimes a show comes along and you sense it's a game changer.
In the early 1980s. Hill Street Blues stood out from the crowd of episodic television. The lives of the characters developed throughout the series. There was no reset at the end of the episode.
In the early 1990s. Twin Peaks bought a new kind of storytelling. A world away from glamour soaps of Dynasty and Dallas. This was a community filled with working class people and power players. The central story was a murder mystery.
In between these two shows came Miami Vice. Dubbed MTV cops. Once it emerged in the television landscape. Just about every episodic television show in America had to copy it. All of sudden, rock music was blaring out from the speakers of your television set whether you were watching Hunter, The Fall Guy or Street Hawk.
Looking back at the first story. The songs varied a lot, you had cheesy Cyndi Lauper and later a magnificent moody use of Phil Collins 'In the Air Tonight' intercut with Crockett and Tubbs driving in the Miami night.
Miami Vice was not just about songs and music. The visuals was important. From the pastel coloured costumes, Don Johnson's designer stubble and the use of real life Miami locations.
This was enhanced with the way lighting was used for the night shoots. Then there was the use of violence. In the opener it was rather tame compared to later episodes.
New York cop Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) is after a Columbian drug kingpin called Calderone who killed his brother, also a cop.
Tubbs has come to Miami to find Calderone. He comes across Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) who is undercover. He has just lost his partner and finds that there might be corruption in his department.
Crockett and Tubbs reluctantly team up. Not before finding out that they have not been entirely truthful to each other. Crockett is a good cop with a messy family life. He lives in a boat with an alligator named Elvis.
Michael Mann the Executive Producer of the show was instrumental in the way this looked. It was very cinematic. The pilot has Jimmy Smits and Mykelti Williamson in small roles.
In the early 1980s. Hill Street Blues stood out from the crowd of episodic television. The lives of the characters developed throughout the series. There was no reset at the end of the episode.
In the early 1990s. Twin Peaks bought a new kind of storytelling. A world away from glamour soaps of Dynasty and Dallas. This was a community filled with working class people and power players. The central story was a murder mystery.
In between these two shows came Miami Vice. Dubbed MTV cops. Once it emerged in the television landscape. Just about every episodic television show in America had to copy it. All of sudden, rock music was blaring out from the speakers of your television set whether you were watching Hunter, The Fall Guy or Street Hawk.
Looking back at the first story. The songs varied a lot, you had cheesy Cyndi Lauper and later a magnificent moody use of Phil Collins 'In the Air Tonight' intercut with Crockett and Tubbs driving in the Miami night.
Miami Vice was not just about songs and music. The visuals was important. From the pastel coloured costumes, Don Johnson's designer stubble and the use of real life Miami locations.
This was enhanced with the way lighting was used for the night shoots. Then there was the use of violence. In the opener it was rather tame compared to later episodes.
New York cop Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) is after a Columbian drug kingpin called Calderone who killed his brother, also a cop.
Tubbs has come to Miami to find Calderone. He comes across Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) who is undercover. He has just lost his partner and finds that there might be corruption in his department.
Crockett and Tubbs reluctantly team up. Not before finding out that they have not been entirely truthful to each other. Crockett is a good cop with a messy family life. He lives in a boat with an alligator named Elvis.
Michael Mann the Executive Producer of the show was instrumental in the way this looked. It was very cinematic. The pilot has Jimmy Smits and Mykelti Williamson in small roles.