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"Miami Vice"

From Matt B – Mr. Pop – I’m doing a paper on 1980’s television. What 1980’s series stood out? I know it’s a general question, but thought you could do it justice.

Mr. Pop History – Answer – A few. You can start with “Dallas” which was phenomenally successful and spawned a few rival series such as “Knott’s Landing.”

The quintessential 1980’s has to be “Miami Vice” – a series that took no prisoners. It had its own style and like MTV, set its own pace. In fact, when Miami Vice debuted in 1984, the series said it could be as provocative as cable TV and rock videos, complete with splashy editing and MTV-type background music. Even the colors were different and were based on the new-fangled tertiary colors – acid yellow or cobalt blue against white. Throw-in pink against gray. There was never anything like it.  A change was in the air. It was as trendy and hip as the 1980’s got. Not to mention the two stars – Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas, whose characters wore $600 Versace suits and tooled around in a black Ferrari convertible.

Come back soon, as I answer, to the best of my knowledge, another one of your pop history/culture questions.