Season 1 (1984–85) Season one of
Miami Vice premiered on September 16, 1984, with the two-hour pilot premiere on
NBC and concluded on May 10, 1985, after 22 episodes. Regular cast members included
Don Johnson,
Philip Michael Thomas,
Saundra Santiago,
Gregory Sierra,
Michael Talbott,
John Diehl,
Olivia Brown, and
Edward James Olmos. The first season was filmed on location in
Miami, Florida. The show's crew took up semi-permanent residence in the Alexander Hotel. Various filming locations on the show included: Downtown Miami, Old Miamarina (Bayside Market Place),
Opa Locka Airport,
Biscayne Boulevard,
Key Biscayne, Florida,
Venetian Causeway,
Coconut Grove,
South Beach,
North Miami Beach,
St. Croix, McArthur Causeway,
Ocean Drive, and
Tamiami Trail. Episodes were produced at an average cost of $1.3 million, much higher than the typical cop-show episode of $1 million. The show went to unusual lengths to get the right settings and props for each episode. Music was an integral part of the show. Unlike other television shows at the time,
Miami Vice would buy the rights to original versions rather than covers. The show would spend up to $10,000 per episode for original recordings by artists like
Todd Rundgren,
U2, and
Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
Jan Hammer, the show's musical composer, would create the rest of the show's musical score. For most of the early work on the show, he prominently used both the
Memorymoog and the
Fairlight CMI IIx, as well as later including the
Yamaha DX-7 and the
Roland Jupiter-8. Jan would work out of his state-of-the-art studio in his home in
Brewster, New York composing the score for each episode.
Season 2 (1985–86) Season two of
Miami Vice premiered on September 27, 1985, with the two-hour episode "The Prodigal Son". The second season concluded on May 9, 1986, after 23 episodes. Season two regular cast members included
Don Johnson,
Philip Michael Thomas,
Saundra Santiago,
Michael Talbott,
John Diehl,
Olivia Brown and
Edward James Olmos.
Season 3 (1986–87) Season three of
Miami Vice premiered on September 26, 1986, with the episode "When Irish Eyes Are Crying". The third season concluded on May 8, 1987, after 24 episodes. Season three regular cast members included
Don Johnson,
Philip Michael Thomas,
Saundra Santiago,
Michael Talbott,
John Diehl,
Olivia Brown and
Edward James Olmos. Changes in season three included
Dick Wolf joining the crew as executive producer working with
Michael Mann, different style and fashion looks, the introduction of the
Ferrari Testarossa,
Sonny Crockett's new car and the death of
Larry Zito (Diehl).
Season 4 (1987–88) Season four of
Miami Vice premiered on September 25, 1987, with the episode "Contempt of Court". The fourth season concluded on May 6, 1988, after 22 episodes. Season four regular cast members included
Don Johnson,
Philip Michael Thomas,
Saundra Santiago,
Michael Talbott,
Olivia Brown and
Edward James Olmos. The episodes "The Big Thaw", "Missing Hours" and "The Cows of October" are considered among fans to be the worst in the series.
Season 5 (1988–90) Season five of
Miami Vice is the final season of the series. The season premiered on November 4, 1988, with the episode "Hostile Takeover (Part 2)". The series concluded on May 21, 1989, with "Freefall", after 17 episodes, but later NBC aired three new episodes after the series finale. They were "World of Trouble" (June 14, 1989), "Miracle Man" (June 21, 1989), and "Leap of Faith" (June 28, 1989). Additionally,
USA Network aired "Too Much, Too Late" on January 25, 1990, since NBC would not show that episode due to its strong topic of
child molestation (NBC and USA are now owned by
the same company). Season five regular cast members included
Don Johnson,
Philip Michael Thomas,
Saundra Santiago,
Michael Talbott,
Olivia Brown, and
Edward James Olmos. • † These "
lost episodes" aired after the series finale aired on May 21, 1989. The first three episodes aired on
NBC in June 1989, while the fourth one aired on
USA Network in January 1990. • †2 The episode "Leap of Faith" was a
backdoor pilot for a potential series that did not come to fruition. • ‡ The episode "Too Much, Too Late" was not shown on NBC due to its graphic content and a plot vividly involving
child molestation, which at the time was considered unsuitable for prime time television. ==References==