The 1980s changed the way people watched TV in a variety of ways. One of those was the way the background music worked, with Miami Vice paving the way for popular music being used.
On Sept. 16, 1984, Miami Vice premiered, and legend has it that it was picked up with a two-word pitch to NBC, “MTV cops.” Creator Anthony Yerkovich has since shared that he had a script in progress about two undercover detectives in Miami, but “MTV cops” was written on a napkin and it would end up becoming the operational motto to create the visual style.
That being said, it wasn’t smooth sailing for this iconic cop drama. During the first two seasons, the show faced a lawsuit against Ferrari due to the use of Sonny Crockett’s iconic black 1972 Ferrari Daytona Spyder. It wasn’t a real Spyder, and instead, was a kit car built on the chassis of a Chevrolet Corvette. It’s understandable that Ferrari was upset about that, but in the end, the lawsuit was settled, with the Spyder being blown up after two seasons and the legendary car manufacturer donating two real 1986 white Testarossas to showcase on the series.
Then there was the music. Everyone will now remember the use of “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins playing in the pilot episode. Now, it seems almost normal to have pop music in TV. There are plenty of people who think of AC/DC and Kansas as soon as Supernatural comes up, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer even had live music thanks to The Bronze. Yet, it wasn’t until this 1984 NBC drama that it became a “done thing.”
Up to this point, music had been used as narrative scores. It was written specifically for the series, and that’s still the case for many shows, such as Outlander and Game of Thrones. Miami Vice wanted to do something different, having music as background noise, creating an element of realism to the story. This also helped to revitalize music as a whole, as when people would hear a track on the series, it would immediately become a hit, and that’s something that continues to this day. Who doesn’t have Shazam on their phone to hit when an interesting track comes on in the background?
In the end, the Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas series would help to revitalize the South Beach appearance. Up to this point, the area had become economically depressed and aged, plagued with the drug trade. As Miami Vice focused on two undercover detectives looking to clean up the drug trade, it did so with neon colors and hope that helped to bring tourism back to the area, and it’s now become a luxury destination for the world to see.
While on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2025, Johnson looked back on his time on the series, as it helped to cement him as one of the best TV cops of the 1980s. While Johnson noted that it was “back when there were four networks,” it doesn’t take away from the fact that Friday nights saw “40 to 50 million people” tuning in at 10 p.m. He noted, “That was a big deal, because people wouldn’t go out on their dates or anything until after 10 o’clock. It was like a thing. And there’s really no way to compare it — and certainly not for the length of time — but it was Beatles-like when it was on the air.”