Vice's second season gets slammed in Rolling Stone


Lar

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Season 1 + 2 are the seasons I like the most' date=' but it's an interesting article to read.I wonder what the television critic Elvis would have written if the article was about season 5...[/quote']Interesting.....Did anybody even review season 5? I don't recall reading anything about it during the time. The final episode yes, but a season review?
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Okay, I went back for a third go-round at the thirft; they now have NO Vice-era mags. I didn't come up with much, but I did find this small story. It's somewhat related here, although it's only a small MV mention, so I'll post it here rather than start a new thread:Eingefügtes Bild

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Well...i gotta agree with the (GREAT!) Article. As i said before the seaason2 imo sucked. And i try to be very open minded to watch some episodes but i simply can´t do it.That Adonis episode, that Voodo episode, that one with that wheelchair guy under protection (argh!)..these ones are so bad that i cant remember the name of the episode. And others too.The Prodigal Son is an episode that i like but its more a two hour visual videoclip ("bah, Mr. C. all vice episodes are videoclips") with some weak story.

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NEVER SEEN THIS PHOTO!

Kind of weird isn't it?I guess we are supposed to assume that Hollywood types always sit around indoors wearing their sunglasses.
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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 7 years later...

what's most interesting about that article is Mann referencing pastel's and that he wanted to get past them The very next season they changed up the color scheme but it's always been reported that he hated the darker colors. That may have been totally wrong.

 

pretty interesting. the complaint about the scripts, because within a couple years season 4 would make season 2 look like shakespeare.

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On 3/10/2009 at 4:58 AM, Lar said:

I stumbled across a small treasure trove of old magazines at a local thrift shop today. Lots of old Rolling Stone, Time, and People mags, from the early/mid-70's to the early-90's. I hoped against hope the 1975 Time with Springsteen on the cover would be there, but alas, no such luck. I didn't buy every mag there, but I got the ones that stood out to me most (I'll probably go back and buy some more tomorrow).Anyway, the March 27th, 1986 Rolling Stone (with Bruce Willis on the cover) featured, much to my surprise, an article on Miami Vice's 2nd season. MV was the hottest thing on TV at the time, and yet, RS positively slammed it. Here's that article.I really hope this hasn't been posted before, because I have to say, these RS mags are a pain to scan. Seriously, I like RS, but I'm really glad they recently ditched the oversized issues in favor of a regular magazine size. Anyway, here goes (sorry the print is a little small, should still be readable):Eingefügtes BildEingefügtes BildEingefügtes BildEingefügtes Bild

What a great article - thanks for sharing ! The show got a bit grittier in Season 3 :D

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It's funny reading this article in hindsight.  The author is probably embarrassed that he wrote it.  Season 2 was probably the best season of this groundbreaking show.  At minimum it was the second-best season.  And the comment that "Phil the Shill" had no "story"?   Ahahahaha, that really sums up critics in a nutshell.  That ep obviously had a story, an entertaining one at that.  So what does he mean?  He means a "story", like "Evan" or "Out Where the Buses Don't Run".  Of course, anyone who actually watched Miami Vice knows that Phil the Shill was a comedy episode and a heavy personal tragedy would be totally out of place in that setting.

He mentions that Vice advanced the narrative without resorting to excessive dialogue, but I think he doesn't really get it.  Vice was about mood and attitude rather than plot.  That was the essence of the show.

Edited by airtommy
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found an interview with Mann from when the movie came out in 2006 and he said "if i look through the first two years' episodes, which i consider to be the real core of Miami Vice..."

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Well it is true that the first two seasons were the core of the best story lines, fashion, cars, boats, music etc.

 

I never really liked Rolling Stone and was an avid reader and collector of "Creem" and "Heavy Metal" magazines back in those days. I was sadly disappointed in RS's coverage, and SLAMMING" of the first three Zeppelin albums. They were not at all complimentary! If you miss the ball on Led Zeppelin, can you be a judge of pop culture for anything else?

Airtommy is correct that in hindsight they are probably embarrassed for slamming a lot of pop culture over the decades.  

I always liked Lester Bangs take on modern music at that time, as he said it like it was.

 

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On 4/4/2016 at 8:38 AM, airtommy said:

It's funny reading this article in hindsight.  The author is probably embarrassed that he wrote it.  

As he should be!  It just goes to show it's only one person's opinion and they may be totally off the mark.  I wonder what his career ended up like after a blunder that large.....:)

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but what i found interesting was Mann's comment's about the second season in that RS article, but now he seems to view thing's differently.

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12 hours ago, AzVice said:

but what i found interesting was Mann's comment's about the second season in that RS article, but now he seems to view thing's differently.

Yes, that was the most interesting thing about it.  I think during that time Mann was so wrapped up in Vice, Manhunter, Crime Story, etc that he couldn't see the forest for the trees.

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Would make sense why Mann wanted to change things for Season 3 - I did read that Mann didnt want Vice to become a "cariacture" of itself . Season 3 certainly the beginning looked fresh and the cinematography was outstanding- it was a tougher show :D

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  • 2 years later...
On 4/8/2016 at 8:10 PM, AzVice said:

found an interview with Mann from when the movie came out in 2006 and he said "if i look through the first two years' episodes, which i consider to be the real core of Miami Vice..."

Mann also says this on the dvd commentary for MV 2006.

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The article has a lot of truth in it. Most season 2 shows are extremely flat story wise (e.g.Definetely Miami, Junk Love, French Twist, Florence Italy) compared to season 1 and 3. Everybody was blown away by the visuals back then including me (I was a teenager as many fans) but if I watch MV today in my forties I rarely pick season 2 episodes as they are quite boring, too predictable and visually like a cake that tries to compensate absence of tasty pastry with too much sugar. 

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  • 7 months later...
7 minutes ago, Kladdagh said:

Totally Agree with you :)

I find baffling why anyone would criticize a season that consistent of episodes like "Out Where The Buses Don't Run"  "Yankee Dollar" "Payback" "Buddies" "Phil The Shill" "Little Miss Dangerous" "Definitely Miami"  "One Way Ticket" "Bushido" "Bought and Paid For" "Back in the World" etc and the opener is epic and the finale is brilliant.

 

Edited by RedDragon86
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The first 2 seasons are my favorites of the whole show ...

Like the others seasons BUT ... the feeling was a bit different ... 

See what I mean ? :radar:

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