How was Miami Vice generally received in the 80's?

[Cadillac_Mike]

I'm just curious cause as a Millennial I know it's super cheesy BS but it's still my favorite show lol and seems so classic to me. I just love everything about it; the 80's MTV soundtrack, Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas fighting crime the hard way with designer clothes and quarter million dollar sports cars lmao... Real life sucks. As far as TV escapism goes I think Miami Vice wins out over any show I've ever seen.

 

[aging_rocker]

...super cheesy BS...

Yep, that sums it up nicely

 

[green_henry]

It was really popular, at least for the first two seasons. As I recall, it was on Friday nights and people would stay home to watch it! Crazy.

 

[tbp0701]

It was massive. Yes, it was cheesy, but it both reflected and furthered the image of glamour and excess in the 80s. Also brightly colored clothes, especially for men, getting just the right amount of stubble, and exuding a sort of swagger.

Oh, and tans. Even if you were in cloudy Ohio and had hardly seen sunlight in months, you wanted a tan, and there were a lot of tanning spas.

Oh yeah, speed boats. They were a show of wealth. Again, even tied together outside of a Shooters on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland. Speedboats, bright colors, expensive watches, and hairspray.

Oh the hairspray. I don't know how much that was affected by that show, but there was so much hairspray back then. And smoking was common indoors. I played or worked sound at a few beach-themed type places in the 80s and imagined one day a cigarette lighter and hairspray fumes are going to level the whole entertainment district.

I don't know of synths and electronic drums would have found their way into nearly all major label pop/rock music without the show, but it probably didn't hurt. Same with the popularity of synth-pop and electronic new age.

And Miami became seen as a glitzy epicenter of lavish lifestyles with a corrupt core.

 

[Dismalhead]

I saw it as a kids show, like Chips. Cool maybe if you were 15.

 

[Tom Grattan]

This was very cool, the fake

1972 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spyder

 

[buster poser]

I saw it as a kids show, like Chips. Cool maybe if you were 15.

That's fair. I was 13-18 during MV's run, it met my low bar if just for the Daytona + Testarossa filth.

I missed a lot of it, but that's just how TV was back then; wasn't such a big deal and almost nothing was very good. And because people didn't binge (could anyone actually program a VCR from 1984?), shows were way more episodic/thinner. It was a big deal if a story stretched two weeks, forget these fourteen week character arcs of Sopranos, etc.

High art it wasn't, but a whole lot of folks we'd see later cut their teeth on it.

 

[buster poser]

This was very cool, the fake View attachment 1103722 1972 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spyder

As I recall the engine noise was real, but the car was fugazi.

The TR was for sure real. Lordy what a car, early one with the single high mirror

 

[littlebadboy]

Lots of teens bought espadrilles at that time! And... Blazers over shirt! Ray-Bans too!

 

[Esquire Jones]

Hugely influential.

 

[blueruins]

I can hardly think of a show that had as much impact on fashion and music during it’s heyday.

It was a huge, huge hit that impacted everything. It had that cutting edge cool factor that made you feel like you had to run to catch up with what was going on.

 

[orbit_caster]

I was just out of high school when it came out. Watched a couple of episodes. I was surprised when they used Devo’s Going Under in an episode…

 

[ZackyDog]

I know that Glen Gulia was influenced by that show.

 

[nvilletele]

I lived in Japan during most of the 80’s and used to watch Miami Vice there, as it was broadcast in English on the sub audio channel.

My buddy and I had a standing appointment for him to come over and watch with me each week. It was a big treat having tv in English we could watch then.

 

[johnny k]

I'm just curious cause as a Millennial I know it's super cheesy BS but it's still my favorite show lol and seems so classic to me. I just love everything about it; the 80's MTV soundtrack, Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas fighting crime the hard way with designer clothes and quarter million dollar sports cars lmao... Real life sucks. As far as TV escapism goes I think Miami Vice wins out over any show I've ever seen.

you might want to check the A team !

 

[USian Pie]

Super light blazers over t shirts and no socks.

I really didn't have any interest in the show. It just seemed like another unrelatable cop drama but with a fashion consultant.

But, yeah, huge pop culture impact. Lots of iconic 80s music associated with it, too.

 

[Refugee]

It spawned one of my favorite videos from back then.

 

[mixmkr 2023]

Jan Hammer...if you don't know the name...then you wouldn't know the attraction.
That wasn't just corporate drum machines and synth beats.....well maybe to old some tele twangers it is. Lol!

 

[1293]

I had a college housemate who looked like Tubbs and another who was short and stout. My third housemate called them "Tubbs and Stubbs".

 

[AAT65]

It was pretty big over here - but then we only had 3 TV channels until 1982 when it shot up to 4, so there wasn’t the same sort of competition for eyeballs…