Miami Vice

132 Pages·2010·2.676 MB·English

by  Steven M. Sanders

Miami Vice
TV Milestones
Series Editors
Barry Keith Grant Jeannette Sloniowski
Brock University Brock University
TV Milestones is part of the Contemporary Approaches to Film
and Television Series
A complete listing of the books in this series can be found online
at wsupress.wayne.edu
General Editor
Barry Keith Grant
Brock University
Advisory Editors
Robert J. Burgoyne Tom Gunning
Wayne State University University of Chicago
Caren J. Deming Thomas Leitch
University of Arizona University of Delaware
Patricia B. Erens Anna McCarthy
School of the Art Institute of Chicago New York University
Peter X. Feng Walter Metz
University of Delaware Southern Illinois University
Lucy Fischer Lisa Parks
University of Pittsburgh University of California–
Santa Barbara
Frances Gateward
Ursinus College
M i a m i
v i c e
Steven Sanders
TV
MILESTONES SERIES
Wayne State University Press Detroit
© 2010 by Wayne State University Press,
Detroit, Michigan 48201. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced without formal permission.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
14 13 12 11 10 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sanders, Steven, 1945–
Miami vice / Steven Sanders.
p. cm. — (TV milestones)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8143-3419-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Miami vice (television program) I. Title.
PN1992.77.M525S36 2010
791.45’72—dc22
2009050995
To Lynn and Larry
and
The Two Mikes
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cONTENTS
ACKNoWLEDGMENTS ix vii
Introduction: Vice Inc. 1
1. Sunshine Noir 19
2. Into the Night 41
3. Authenticity, Redemption, and the Politics
of Miami Vice 65
4. Why Miami Vice Matters 85
Conclusion: Life after Vice 101
NoTES 105
WoRKS CITED 107
EPISoDE GUIDE 111
INDEX 115
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ackNOwLEdgMENTS
Barton Palmer encouraged me to propose a volume on Miami
ix
Vice for the TV Milestones series. Barton’s extensive work on
film has been a model for my own efforts to “cinematize” (his
word) my writing, so I am doubly indebted to him.
No one has helped me more in the work on this book than
Christeen Clemens, who viewed and discussed most of the one
hundred and eleven episodes of Miami Vice with me and made
many helpful comments on drafts of the manuscript. We also
worked together to produce the screen captures for the book’s
photo illustrations. Christeen and Aeon Skoble, who also read
and commented on several chapters in draft, were invaluable
resources for all things Vice-related. Their mastery of the show’s
details was an indispensable corrective to my fallible and selec-
tive memory. I am grateful to Mark Conard for his comments
on early drafts of chapters 2 and 3, Jim Muller, who provided
insight and guidance, and Jim Trombetta, who corresponded
with me about his experience as a staff writer for the show.
For their knowledge of the city from which Miami Vice takes
its name, I have benefited enormously from conversations with
my sister Lynn Lapin, Larry Lapin, Jeffrey Lapin, Gerry Johnson,
Michael Genden, and Michael Stephans, all of whom thought of