This Week In Miami Vice History

[mvnyc]

February 10th - 17th:

**There was no Season One premiere episode this week**

"Florence Italy", the 16th episode of the 2nd season, premiered on NBC on Friday, February 14th, 1986 at 10PM EST. Some notes on this episode (from Miami Vice Wiki):
* This episode was originally planned for the first season; it was to be called "The Prize" and was written with Mick Jagger in mind to play the lead role. The script was scrapped (along with some racing footage that had already been filmed), but was revived for Season 2 with Danny Sullivan playing the main character.
* The Fat Boys make a cameo appearance at the beginning of the episode, with Buffy (aka The Human Beat Box) being forced to eat a marijuana joint after Tubbs asks him to "make it disappear."
* This episode marks the second and final appearance of Annie Golden as Crockett's mechanic, "Tommy." Tommy was originally to be a valuable source of street information, but the character never caught on.
* Danny's car in this episode was a Porsche 962-HR1 race car that won the IMSA GT Championship three times from 1985 to 1987. It was sponsored by Lowenbrau beer (Danny can be seen drinking Lowenbrau at the cocktail party).
* The race in the parking garage between Danny and Frank features the Kawasaki Ninja, a popular sport bike born in the 80s that still remains popular today.
* At the start of the episode, Florence Italy/Abigail Cook can be seen standing on the sidewalk several times after she supposedly got into the car where she is killed.

"Theresa", the 16th episode of the 3rd season, premiered on NBC on Friday, February 13th, 1987 at 9PM EST. Some notes on this episode (from Miami Vice Wiki):
* Helena Bonham Carter was only 20 years old when this episode was made, far too young to (realistically) be a real doctor. Don Johnson was 37 when this episode was filmed.
* There is a good shot of the Pantera stunt car, when Arzola flees Tubbs and Switek, as Crockett attempts to cut him off. You can tell the differences due to different rims, lack of badging and higher ride height.
* When Sonny grabs Wyatt and throws him over the furniture, it's clear that Don Johnson is tussling with Brad Dourif's stunt double.

"Vote Of Confidence", the 13th episode of the 4th season, premiered on NBC on Friday, February 12th, 1988 at 9PM EST. Some notes on this episode (from Miami Vice Wiki):
* A running theme on Miami Vice is how often Crockett and Tubbs are called into Internal Affairs (IAD) for actions they've taken, but are later exonerated, as they are here. Tubbs even makes reference to this in his line "IAD has a permanent poker with our names stenciled in on it!"
* The ongoing "politics affecting police operations" theme continues with this episode.

"Miami Squeeze", the 11th episode of the 5th season, premiered on NBC on Friday, February 17th, 1989 at 10PM EST. Some notes on this episode (from Miami Vice Wiki):
* This episode is another example of politicians trying to influence police action to protect their campaign.
* DAT stands for Digital Audio Tape (a fairly new technology in 1989), designed to be a tape equivalent of a compact disc. Due to congressional regulations and advances in technology, it was rendered obsolete, with the last DAT machine being made in 2005.
* Although never explicitly stated in the episode, it is reasonable to assume that Justin Lazard's character "Joey" is the same Joey Hardin he played in "Line Of Fire", now working for the Metro-Dade police after his time in the DEA. His given surname, "Chandler", is likely just a cover name, as it is used in the presence of criminals he is investigating undercover.

Edited February 9, 2017 by mvnyc