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DVD Review
The first season of Miami Vice is now on DVD. The set includes
22 episodes from the first season. The hour long episodes are
included on 3 dual sided discs. The DVD set does include the
original music from the series. The music from season one include
popular songs like “Missing You” by John Waits, “In
The Air Tonight,” by “Relax” by Frankie Goes
to Hollywood. To my knowledge, all of the original music is
included.
No hour long series captures the mid 80’s like Miami Vice.
The music, the fashion, the cars bring the 80’s back to
your living room. The premiere episode of Miami Vice was listed
as one of TV Guide/TV Lands “100 Most Memorable TV Moments.”
The pilot episode plays out like a motion picture, with action
and drama. Heck, most of the episodes of Miami Vice played out
like mini-movies. Miami Vice executive producer Michael Mann
went on to direct blockbuster movies such as “Bad Boys”
and “Collateral.”
Crockett and Tubbs were not friends initially, and in the pilot
their relationship develops. They both appeared to live a dangerous
and glamorous life, as Crocket lived on a boat with his pet
crocodile Elvis.
Miami Vice broke a lot of stars into the industry. Jimmy Smits
appeared in the pilot episode. The show also made stars out
of a lot of actors who had been struggling to make it big for
some time. Phillip Michael Thomas and Don Johnson were not household
names prior to the show. The first season also gave Gregory
Sierra his first major non-sitcom television role. Prior to
Vice he had was best known as Julio on Sanford and Son The guest
stars in the first season are equally impressive. Ed O’Neil
stars in episode two in a serious role. Ed later went on to
star as Al Bundy on Married With Children. Other season one
guests include Bruce Willis pre-Moonlighting, and Ving Rhames.
Edward James also starts his extended run on the show during
Season One. Edward James Olmos replaced Gregory Sierra on the
series as the LT. in charge.
It’s nice to have the show on DVD finally. The picture
quality looks awesome but I do have a few personal complaints.
The dual disc DVD thing wouldn’t be that bad if each side
were labeled. Perhaps it has to be like that, but at times I
was wondering if there was content on both sides. There is another
thing that really bothered me as a DVD on TV enthusiast. There
is no booklet that describes what episode is on each disc. The
booklet included includes previews of future and current DVD
releases. This information is included on the inside back flap
of the DVD box. The set does include some pretty awesome extras.
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Bonus Features-For the record…the bonus material is one
Disc 1 side A.
The bonus features include:
The Vibe of Vice-Discover how Miami Vice forever changed the
face of television
This featurette is basically about Miami Vice’s impact
on pop culture and television.
Building The Perfect Vice
From development to primetime: behind the scenes of Miami Vice
This featurette is the best in my opinion. It includes detailed
information on the shows history. One theory of development
of Miami Vice is that it was spawned from a piece of paper written
by then NBC head Brandon Tartinkoff that said, “MTV Cops.”
Another development theory is that the show was spawned from
a newspaper article about Miami. This featurette goes on to
detail the casting of Crockett and Tubbs. According to this
featurette, Don Johnson was not NBC’s favorite for the
role of Sonny Crockett. Don had already starred in six failed
pilots. Bulding The Perfect Vice provides a lot of cool background
information on the show.
The Style of Vice
How Miami Vice’s trendsetting fashions gave the series
it’s signature look and influenced pop culture
This featurette includes commentary from the woman who dressed
the show. She explains that budget was not an option. Gianni
Versace even appears in a past interview where he describes
his role in the shows fashions. The fashion director or whatever
her official title was goes on to describe how she would choose
the clothes and even details how she would leave Don Johnson’s
shirts in a pile on the floor so they would have that just right
look. She also details that Don Johnson originally balked at
the idea of wearing pastels and bright colors.
The Music of Vice
How the music of Miami Vice transformed television storytelling,
attracting music’s biggest stars to the series.
Jan Hammer appears in this featurette both in past interviews
and new interviews. He describes how he made the music for each
episode from his New York home. An interesting fact mentioned
is that the Miami Vice Soundtrack spent 12 weeks at number one
on the Billboard chart. This featurette also explains MTV’s
influence on the show and the show’s music.
Miami After Vice
From the 1980’s to the present, how the city of Miami has
evolved.
This is the shortest of the featurettes. Basically details how
the City of Miami didn’t originally embrace the idea of
the show being based there. Includes commentary from Miami residents.
Who You Won’t See in the Bonus Features
Oddly enough you won’t see Don Johnson or Phillip Michael
Thomas in any new footage in the bonus features. There are clips
of them from the show and from past interviews.
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Season One Episode List
1. Brother’s Keeper
2. Heart of Darkness
3. Cool Runnin’
4. The Hit List
5. Calderone’s Demise
6. One-Eyed Jack
7. No Exit
8. The Great McCarthy
9. Glades
10.Give a Little, Take a Little
11. Little Prince
12. The Milk Run
13. Golden Triangle (1)
14. Golden Triangle (2)
15. Smuggler’s Blues
16. Rites of Passage
17. The Maze
18. Made for Each Other
19. The Home Invaders
20. Nobody Lives Forever
21. Evan
22. Lombard
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