IN JANUARY, Universal Studios told Variety that it was going to be a while before the DVDs for the first season of Miami Vice would go on sale. Licensing the soundtrack–with music by U2, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, and Tina Turner, among others–was proving very expensive. What then explains the sudden appearance of said DVDs only weeks later? What could have sent the permissions process into overdrive? This is just a guess, but it may have something to do with final casting and the beginning of film production for Miami Vice the movie starring Collin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, due out next year. Michael Mann, the TV show’s executive producer, is directing the movie, while the TV show’s director and creator Anthony Yerkovich, is executive-producing the movie.
Not a bad excuse for rolling out the first 22 episodes of the Friday night drama that made sockless boat shoes, sleeveless Ts, and five o’clock shadows fashionable. The $59.98, 3-disc set also includes a handful of mini features from which Crockett and Tubbs admirers will learn that Don Johnson had appeared in six failed pilots before Miami Vice producers fought to cast him in the lead. Also that the show’s unprecedented costuming budget was in the six figures; that Friday night was not actually a desirable slot, because Dallas and Falcon Crest had the schedule all sewn up; that city officials, whose cooperation the producers definitely needed, worried the show’s title would hurt Miami’s image; and that while legend has it that the show was inspired by a note from a studio executive stating the formula “MTV cops,” it was, though influenced by music videos, actually inspired by a newspaper article estimating the size of Miami’s underground economy.
