# Miami Vice (1984)

> Two Miami vice detectives, one undercover and one stylish, take on drug traffickers and prostitution rings in a flashy 1980s crime drama.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/1800

## Facts

- Seasons: 5
- Episodes: 110
- Episode runtime: 48 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama
- Created by: Anthony Yerkovich
- Network: NBC
- Cast: Don Johnson, Philip Michael Thomas, Saundra Santiago, Olivia Brown, Michael Talbott, Edward James Olmos, John Diehl, Jeroen Krabbé
- TMDB rating: 7.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086759/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: stylish, propulsive, gritty, melancholic, atmospheric

## What critics say

Viewers broadly regard Miami Vice as a stylish, influential 1980s crime series whose look and music defined its era, with its quality declining in later seasons.

## Synopsis

Miami Vice (1984-1989) is a United States crime drama series created by Anthony Yerkovich for NBC. Set in 1980s Miami, it follows vice detectives Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas), an unlikely partnership that begins when Tubbs is undercover inside a drug cartel. Their engine is the constant tension between the gritty work of dismantling trafficking and prostitution rings and the danger of living under false identities among criminals. Gina Calabrese (Saundra Santiago) and Martin Castillo (Edward James Olmos) orbit their investigations, adding personal stakes and shifting loyalties. Each episode is built around an operation, a sting or an informant, with the cases tying into a continuing thread of cartel pressure across five seasons. Produced with Michael Mann's involvement, the show is a stylish, music-driven piece of eighties television, its pastel suits, fast cars and neon-lit nights giving the grit a glossy sheen. The tone mixes propulsive action with melancholic moments and a sense of moral weariness. Fans of Hill Street Blues, Narcos and Heat will find resonance in its blend of procedural detail, undercover danger and atmospheric style. Its reputation rests on mood and look as much as plot, making it a defining artifact of 1980s television crime drama.

## Shows like Miami Vice

- [Cagney & Lacey (1982)](https://ember.film/tv/4013)
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- [Hardcastle and McCormick (1983)](https://ember.film/tv/1192)
- [Knight Rider (1982)](https://ember.film/tv/2264)
- [Jake and the Fatman (1987)](https://ember.film/tv/4301)
- [T. J. Hooker (1982)](https://ember.film/tv/996)
- [Nash Bridges (1996)](https://ember.film/tv/444)
- [Wiseguy (1987)](https://ember.film/tv/6114)
- [Hill Street Blues (1981)](https://ember.film/tv/3642)
- [New York Undercover (1994)](https://ember.film/tv/3841)

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