Miami Vice is an American television crime drama series produced by Michael Mann. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as undercover detectives James ”Sonny” Crockett and Ricardo ”Rico” Tubbs. The series ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989.

Unlike standard police shows, Miami Vice drew heavily upon 1980s New Wave culture and music. The show became noted for its heavy integration of music and visual effects to tell a story. It is recognized as one of the most influential television series of all time.

In keeping with the show’s namesake, most episodes focus on combating drug trafficking and prostitution. Episodes more often than not end in a large gun battle, claiming the lives of several criminals before they can be brought to justice. An undercurrent of cynicism and futility underlies the entire series. Most episodes were filmed in the South Beach section of Miami Beach, an area which, at the time, was full of poverty and crime.

Miami Vice is noted for its innovative use of stereo broadcast music, particularly countless pop and rock hits of the 1980s and the distinctive, synthesized instrumental music of composer 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 of the artists who contributed their music to the show were Phil Collins, ZZ Top, Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, U2 etc.

Miami Vice is my favourite cop show on TV. I like it’s aesthetics and visual extravaganzas, which are heavily integrated to tell the story in each episode. Sure, the episode plots might sometimes be a tad boring, even repetitive. I also like 80’s music and Miami Vice has a lot of it.