Did the season 1 & 2 style need changed?

[Noggie]

This thread is sort of a companion to the "What if Miami Vice had lasted into the 90's" thread.

I had seasons 1 - 3 & just got 4 & 5 today. I glanced at the final episode & it feels like the show was on ten years! It was so different. Modern shows get tweaked every few years but Vice got tweaked every year it was on.

Seasons 1 & 2 are pretty similar. (Although, season 1 did quite a bit of evolving itself). Season 3 brings a complete style change & a different feel. It's a good season but the guys seem a bit older. That's probably due to the new look & a change in how their relationship is portrayed. No more hanging out on the boat, it's strictly professional in season 3. Season 4 looks like at attempt to recapture the magic but the Vice more & more resembles a standard police show. Again, there's a fashion tweak. Season 5 brings more visual changes but most importantly, the characters have become very burned out. This started in season 4 & just continued in 5. It's a natural progression for the characters & might feel right if this was season 8 or 9 but they're ready to pack it in after 5 years! It's like they crammed a 12 year run into 5 years with all the style changes & character evolution.

What if nothing changed in season 3? Would the classic look have gotten stale then? I think it could have lasted at least another year & even then I'm not sure a drastic change was needed. Also, do the characters feel like they got old prematurely? I don't think Vice was destined for a long run but at the very least, it shouldn't have declined so much in seasons 4 & 5.

[TylerDurden389]

The style of season 1 & 2 should've gone on for at least 1 more season (2 would've been fine). Then by 88'-89' it would've been outta style. So by season 5, THAT'S when they should've went with the tone/style of season 3. And maybe that could've lasted another season or 2 into the early 90's.

[Vice Immersion]

For me, I think the show became too successful too quickly where Micheal Mann wanted to spend more of his time and energy on other projects.  If the show's ascent was more gradual, it could have compelled Mann to stay longer, rather than attempting other projects which never outperformed Miami Vice's success, and therefore his style would have lasted for an additional season or two.

 

In addition, the media overtly focused on the style and fashion of the series, and it seems the public regarded it more as a trendy, glitzy cop show rather than equally weighing the emotional tone and character experiences of the show.  Furthermore, it didn't help the show that it was seen as a fashion-forward show and therefore made the show feel more compelled and pressured to consistently evolve their style and clothes every season.

 

But I think what hurt the most was Dick Wolf's direction with the show in the third and fourth seasons.  Although he brought some geopolitical and newsworthy topics into the show, he overemphasized this to the point where the characters were getting increasingly less focus on their experiences, and he wanted to portray the show dealing with "real world" events, and therefore the tone was dramatically darker and more serious to reflect the gravitas of issues being raised.  To me, these two seasons seem to show too much interest in the procedural format of having local law enforcement dealing with newsworthy-driven topics (rather than character-driven episodes of the first two seasons) like Wolf's Law & Order shows would depict.  In those particular Law & Order shows, it takes many seasons to know the details of the characters' personal lives unlike with Miami Vice which introduces a substantial amount in the first two seasons.

 

With such a sudden shift in not only tonal darkness and style, but also focus from characters to the plot, it changed the overall taste (superficially and content wise) of the show where it no longer seemed the atmospheric world of "Miami Vice" (since one was experiencing Miami through the characters' experiences), but more like "procedural cops in Miami who have expensive clothes and cars to blend in" (overtly focusing the crime itself and its politics to be at the foreground, thus making the characters go toward the background of the show).  Which could explain the drop in ratings from #9 in Season 2, to #27 in Season 3 (and it's mixed reception by Season 3)... even if it was moved to 9PM and competed with Dallas. I mean the ratings shouldn't have dropped that low in just one season, at most no lower than the #20 spot.

 

...By the way, when the ratings were declining and worrisome by the end of Season 4, how come Micheal Mann didn't return back to Miami Vice in an attempt to save the show?  ...Or did he try to, but couldn't?

Edited July 12, 2015 by Vice Immersion

[Vincent Hanna]

The change of pace in season 3 was needed imo. The pastel look was starting to look all same-y by the end of S2. The casual fans who abandoned the show because of the change of fashion were morons and obviously didn't understand the show beyond the superficial aspects if that's what it took for them to stop watching, which I'm hoping was not the reason the show was so popular in the first place. Audiences and Critics cared more about the fashion, music & pop culture references rather than the hard hitting story lines. The writing in Season 3 was very consistent throughout and the topical stories was much needed. The new look with dark tones and the White Testarossa gave the show a new visual edge. 

 

The real problem came around in season 4 when Dick Wolf thought it was appropriate to include stories about Aliens, Bull Semen, A frozen Rastafarian, Crockett getting married, Re-introducing Billy and Caroline. Litterally everything they could possibly do wrong they did. You need quite the imagination to even destroy a show this badly. I literally said Aliens, Bull Semen and Frozen Rastafarian in the same sentence  . Who even came up with these ideas for a cop show. This isn't the X-files. 

 

I'm sure Michael Mann was fuming from the ears like a Looney Tunes cartoon at the sight of it. They obviously had no creative direction for the show and it spiralled out of control which is a shame.

Edited July 11, 2015 by thedeparted94