This Week In Miami Vice History...

[mvnyc]

May 6th - May 12th:

"Lombard", the 22nd episode of the 1st season, premiered on NBC on Friday, May 10th, 1985 at 10PM EDT. Some notes on this episode (from Miami Vice Wiki):
* This would be Dennis Farina's only appearance as Al Lombard until Season 5's "World Of Trouble", in which Ned Eisenberg would also reprise his role as Librizzi. In the interim, Farina would be cast by Michael Mann in his new series "Crime Story", which ran from 1986-88.
* When Crockett and Tubbs go to the track to find Lombard talking with his son, Tubbs' position on the fence changes between shots.
* Though this episode was the first season finale, it was not the final first season episode repeated; that honor would go to "Evan."

"Sons And Lovers", the 22nd episode of the 2nd season, premiered on NBC on Friday, May 9th, 1985 at 10PM EDT. Some notes on this episode (from Miami Vice Wiki):
* Many of the "classic" Miami Vice elements that popularized the show would disappear after this episode, including Crockett's Bren Ten handgun, his tortoise shell Ray-Ban Wayfarers (replaced by Persol frames), the classic pastel look (replaced by darker and neon colors), Tubbs' long hair (which remained short for the rest of the series) and Crockett's short in the front, long in the back hair (replaced by a short spikey cut). However, some of these features would return later; Crockett would switch back to black Wayfarers in Season 4, pastels reappeared periodically in Seasons 4 and 5 and Crockett's hair also went back to its longer style for the last two seasons (in Season 5 it grew out to its longest length).
* Lee Iacocca took time off from his job as Chairman of Chrysler Corporation to film a brief cameo in this episode, his character takes his real first name, Lido. Izzy Moreno would frequently quote Iacocca throughout the series.
* This episode marks the TV debut of John Leguizamo. He would return as Orlando Calderone in the third season episode "The Afternoon Plane."
* The name "Orlando" was originally the first name of Calderone, Sr. in the episode "Brother's Keeper", before it was changed to "Esteban" in "Calderone's Return (Part II)". "Esteban" is now considered the character's correct name.
* Angelina and Tubbs' love child is not seen or even mentioned again in the series. Tubbs is shown to believe his son is dead in "The Afternoon Plane" and never made aware of his survival. Presumably this is a result of the show's producers not wanting to burden Tubbs with a child, for fear of limiting his input in storylines.
* The gold dolphin ring, worn by Calderone's children, would reappear in the episode "Borrasca."
* At the end of the episode, we see Crockett wearing a tie, one of the few times he does so in the series.

"Heroes Of The Revolution", the 24th episode of the 3rd season, premiered on NBC on Friday, May 8th, 1987 at 9PM EDT. Some notes on this episode (from Miami Vice Wiki):
* Saundra Santiago played Gina's mother, "Elena" in the opening sequence, as well as her normal role of Gina in the rest of the episode.
* The identity of Gina's father is never explained, therefore it is unknown whether it is Herzog or Pedrosa that is meant to be her true father, or if her biological father was killed in the Revolution, which is a very likely scenario.
* This is the only episode where all of the non-Jan Hammer music is sung live.
* This episode, the season finale, bookends the third season with Gina episodes (the season premiere, "When Irish Eyes Are Crying" also had Gina as the focus of the main storyline).
* The information revealed in this episode makes Gina 27 years old at the time of the episode.

"Mirror Image", the 22nd episode of the 4th season, premiered on NBC on Friday, May 6th, 1988 at 10PM EDT. Some notes on this episode (from Miami Vice Wiki):
* This is Jan Hammer's final musical appearance on "Miami Vice." Tim Truman took over in the fifth season, but Hammer's theme would remain.
* Manolo's gallery looks like the house used by Tony Amato in Season 1's "No Exit."
* Tony Azito makes Manolo different than the average drug boss by moving in rapid, jerky rushes, then standing completely still, cocking his head at odd angles, paralleling his body language to that of the fighting cocks with which he identifies.
* Don Johnson shows such a total change in personality when he portrays Burnett that even his walk is different, it is more constrained and intent and less rhythmic than Crockett's easy stride.
* Burnett's noticeable restlessness (being unwilling to sit or rest for any period of time), reflects his lack of peace with himself and perhaps his sense that he actually belongs somewhere else.
* The dream sequence on the beach seems to be a salute to the surrealistic filmmaker Federico Fellini: Tubb's body in the glass coffin calling out to Crockett seems to be his conscience guilting him for shooting Tubbs, while Crockett seeing himself in a coffin suggests that his unconscious is trying to tell him that his current actions are killing his true self.
* The explosion of the boat hosting the meeting between the rival organizations has very obviously been created using a rather crude model.
* The visual style of this episode is more formal and mannered than recent season 4 episodes, recalling the deco landscapes, buildings and careful and closed compositions particularly of Season 1.

 

[miamijimf]

Thanks again for posting these excerpts.

[Matt5]

Thanks again for posting these excerpts.

 

 

Yes thankyou these are invaluable resources and througly enjoyable       

[Pink Flaming0]

Great info. !!

[Matt5]

Great info. !!

 

 

Some great episodes here