I can never find anything on AFN that I like to watch so I’ve recently been getting a lot of TV series on DVD. The other day I picked up the first 2 seasons of Miami Vice. While I’m kinda enjoying them for nolstalgia’s sake, I have to ask…was everything so pastel back in the 80’s?
Its repeated on the Bravo satellite/cable channel here in the UK.
Last night’s (or the night before) episode had Edward James Olmos creeping around a prison with a gun with an almost cat like grace that had to be seen to be beleived. How can someone so grim looking move with such beauty?!
I don’t remember much about Miami Vice, God knows, even though I was old enough to watch it. But I remember one time when Edward James Olmos character was being hunted by some old army rival or something. He went into a room and his pursuer came through the same door only to find him gone.
The camera goes to wide shot and he’s standing on TOP of the door frame above his enemies head. I remember thinking that was just the coolest.
Oh, and they used The Cowboy Junkies to close an episode. I approved of that, too.
My favorite episode.
In season two there’s a great episode with Bill Russell the ex-basketball player as a judge with a gambling problem. His bookie/loan shark is Michael “Kramer” Richards.
They used “Brothers in Arms” to great effect as one episode ended, something with Don Johnson’s friend getting shot dead or something.
It looks corny now but trust me, when that show first came out it was The Shit. Episodes that now look a little silly were dark and sharp and cutting edge at the time. I guess it’s the same as with the music and even the clothes; it’s considered goofy but at the time it was new and different and sharp! Of course I graduated high school in '85 so it was My Time!
I think the pastels were particular to Miami Vice. Watching Vice was the first time I remember noticing production design, particularly the colors. There were scenes where Crockett’s clothes perfectly complemented the decor of the room he was in.
One show that does that now in a different way is Simply Quilts with Alex Anderson. Her shirts and sweaters go perfectly with the colors in whatever quilt they’re working on, and usually coordinate with her guests as well. Cute. 
My favorite Vice episode was Definitely Miami. It’s the one with the blonde and the ice and Ted Nugent
Second favorite is Evan with William Russ. I swear, Crockett and Evan were lovers.
I’ve been watching the first season on DVD. Does it seem like Don Johnson’s normal speech is kinda loud?
"Maybe you won’t even twitch…"
Sorry, just saw that episode on the DVD and I remember it from my old college days. Crockett (Don Johnson) shoots a guy in the head after the guy who has a little girl hostage says that she’ll die if he even twitches.
I thought that was so bad ass when I was younger!
I think just about anything would look better than the Earth Tone Seventies, and while two detectives with a vaguely homoerotic relationship was basically a rehash of Starsky & Hutch, at least they weren’t driving around in a freakin’ Gran Turino with a white stripe painted on it.
I think that pretty much any show from the Eighties looks bad now; I was hyped when I finally got some episodes of Max Headroom earlier this year, only to be disappointed with how shabby the production values were.
Stranger
I watched that show every week. So did my wife. We lived in Bakersfield, so that could explain some of the appeal. 
I think pastels were peculiar to Miami, and the show advantage of that.
Man, they used some bad-assed cars and boats, didn’t they?
It was a good show, now dated.
Mangeorge
I remember a popular local rumor that they used “real” bad guys (Cuban locals) on the show.
I always figured the look was inspired by the previous year’s Scarface.
They did, maybe its because of GTA, but there are some great looking bits of machinery in there. The music (IMHO) is still great.
And keep your eyes peeled for Penn Gilette of Penn and Teller playing a Cuban drug lord.
I saw that episode a few years ago
The lads are following a retired detective played by the ubiquitous Bruce McGill (who I just found out was D-Day from Animal House). I think their chasing some Keiser Soze-esq ghost of a mobster only to find out (to the tune of Brothers in Arms) that McGills character walled him up in an old building years ago
As for the Scarface look and pastels, that’s seems to be mostly a Miami thing back in the 80s. Although I do remember preppy guys wearing pink and other pastel colored Polo clothes back in the day.