New Free Miami Vice Screen Savers
screen saver 1 (images only)
screen saver 2 ( larger file comes with sounds)

Miami Vice started in the fall of 1984 with a 2-hour movie.  When the summer of 1985 hit it seemed as if everyone had just suddenly discovered Vice.  Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas were seen everywhere.  They received attention usually reserved  for rock stars.  The show was consecutively in the top ten that summer. 

The show had a great premise.  Two cops from different backgrounds and totally different attitudes were thrown together in a rock and roll fantasy on steroids!  Tubbs was the street smart cop from New York, and Crockett was the tough guy from the South who had severe guilt about his ex-wife and son.  Tubbs was rock and roll and Crockett was country even though he dressed like a drug dealer heavily into the Miami scene.  The show weaved pop music into the story lines in a way that hasn't been seen before or since!  It worked perfectly.  You could almost feel what the characters felt including the intense heat of Miami.  Several guest stars were seen in the first season including Bruce Willis before Moonlighting.  The first season was given more emmy nominations than almost any other show that season.

And then the second season started with a huge amount of hype.  The 2- hour season opener had Crockett and Tubbs going to New York.  It included a guest appearance from Gene Simmons from Kiss and was jam packed with pop hits.  The second season was more of a visual spectacle than a emotional roller coaster like the first season, but it was well worth watching.  The best episodes from the second season included an episode with Ted Nugent as the bad guy of the week!

The rest of the show's history was a little hit and miss as far as quality goes with the fourth season being the worst.  But no show is perfect and this show created a very high standard for itself in the very first season which I think caused it to have too high of expectations from its fans.

One of the remarkable aspects of the show was the soundtrack which reached number one.  The  show's theme went to number one and in the same week, Glenn Frye's "You Belong to the City" from the soundtrack was in the top five as well.  Jan Hammer composed the theme and other tracks as well.  Jan Hammer's music was an essential ingredient for the background mood of the show for four seasons. Two more soundtracks from Miami Vice would also be released, and Don Johnson would go on to record a very successful album featuring the hit "Heartbeat".

In the nineties Don Johnson has move on to another show called Nash Bridges.  He teamed up with Phillip Michael Thomas for one show last season.  It was almost like Miami Vice all over again.

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