Diurnal and Nocturnal Cityscapes in Miami Vice

Abstract

Amid intense inter-network rivalry and the proliferation of cable, pay television and a nascent and competitive video industry, the major American Networks in the 1980s were faced with major challenges if they wished to continue attracting audiences and profits as they had during the 1970s. Miami Vice, which ran for five seasons on NBC between 1984 and 1989, was probably one of the most influential and innovative episodic series of the decade. Following Julia Kristeva’s assumption that urban space can be understood and analysed as a text, the present paper will therefore examine the role of the city of Miami as the show’s main character, before deciphering the possible readings of the diurnal and nocturnal cityscape in relation to the influence of noir and neo-noir films, which are traditionally associated with a city’s “mean streets”. Consequently, the present study will attempt to demonstrate how the show offers a vision of the post-modern city during the Reagan years, while pinpointing the crucial influence the series had on the networks’ future primetime episodic crime series as well as – more surprisingly – its impact on the city’s urban renovation.