In today’s day and age, there are so many options to view entertainment—Netflix, iTunes, YouTube, and the circa-500 million channels on cable, satellite, or whatever your preferred provider is.
Yet somehow, with all the choices out there, I have found myself watching one particular channel quite a lot recently: the El Rey television network. The brainchild of director Robert Rodriguez, perhaps best known for El Mariachi, Dusk to Dawn, and Sin City, El Rey’s current selection of programming seems to consist of mostly old Kung Fu movies, and syndicated shows like Starsky & Hutch, Dark Angel…and perhaps, more importantly: Miami Vice.
Seemingly, whenever I turn the channel to El Rey, I see Sonny Crocket and Ricardo Tubbs staring back at me, and I kinda like it. Luckily, El Rey plays Miami Vice almost as much as the Hallmark channel plays the Golden Girls, so I can get my fix whenever I want.
I’m not sure exactly why I’m so mesmerized by the show. Could it be because of Crocket’s amazing pastel-colored shirts, neutral blazers, and high-waisted pants—Crocket really knew how to make salmon colored clothing very manly.
Or was the show was so awesome because of its amazing storylines?
Watching the show has brought back some memories. I remember as a kid seeing the Miami Vice Action Spectacular stunt show at Universal. And, of course, there is innocence for a time before pagers, smartphones, and the internet took over our lives. The show had it all: sex, drugs, guns, cars, and rock ‘n’ roll. It was a platform to play the hottest new music, and many notable actors, musicians, and celebrities appeared on the show throughout its run.
It’s a virtual feast of talent, and fun to see some then-unknowns play different roles. In the last couple of weeks alone, I’ve seen Melanie Griffith, Pam Grier, Sheena Easton, G. Gordon Liddy, Ed O’Neill, John Turturro, Ben Stiller, Liam Neeson, and Bruce Willis—just to name a few.
While the casting directors had a great eye, the prop masters had an equally great eye, too, for locations and cars. Crocket and Tubbs’ daily driver is Ferrari Daytona Spider, but they later receive a white Testarossa after the Daytona is destroyed by an arms dealer with a missile.
Also notable: Tubbs sometimes drove a 1964 Cadillac Coupe de Ville Convertible, Stan Switek drove a turquoise 1963 Ford Thunderbird, and Gina Calabrese drove an 1971 Mercury Cougar XR-7 convertible, and when Stan and Larry were undercover, they drove a Dodge Ram Van with a huge bug on top of it. Other notable vehicles that appeared on the show include cars from Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Maserati, Lotus, DeLorean, and Porsche.
American muscle was also represented by the likes of the GTO, Mustang, Camaro, and Corvette. And, yes, you are probably thinking how did I know what each car was: I did have help from my viewing partner, my husband. In a nutshell though, these are the cars most of you drool over today, so why not watch a show that’s loaded with them?
The influence of Miami Vice has been so great that it is today considered amongst the most influential television series ever made, and many aspects of the show have become pop culture icons.
What are some of your favorites cars and parts of the show?
Images Source: imcdb.org
