#Miami vice pilot theme tv#

For as it reinvented the look of television, Miami Vice reinvented the look of Miami, too, reinvented the way Miami was perceived by the world.

#Miami vice pilot theme tv#

It happened because NBC wanted a TV show that “looked contemporary,” and Miami became the lucky beneficiary of innovation.

“So we’re trying,” he said, “to incorporate these devices wherever possible, without destroying the integrity of the show.” NBC President Brandon Tartikoff explained Wednesday that he thought a straight music video format could never attract a broad enough audience in prime time, he said, “I do think you have to be cognizant that there is a whole generation of younger viewers who are not only watching these videos, but who have been spoiled by the (videos’ high) production values. The show makes extensive use of a contemporary rock soundtrack, and when the music plays - be it the Rolling Stones’ Miss You over the opening scene in New York, or Cindy Lauper’s Girls Just Want to Have Fun set against the sun-bunnies at Haulover Beach - the dialogue cuts out, slow motion and stylized cinematography cut in. The show backs up its different look by marrying it to a different sound.

Interspersed with a recurring shot of the surf (sort of a Miami Five-O kind of thing) we see, in rapid order, flamingos, jai-alai, the greyhounds, a line of Rolls- Royces, Brickell Avenue’s shiny glass towers, Biscayne Bay, the sunset, Miami Beach, sailboats, the Carlyle Hotel in the Art Deco district, the Hassidic Jews of South Beach, breakdancers as part of a vibrant street life, and, finally, the Port of Miami. The scenes over the opening credits could make a Tourism Department travelogue.