Blasts from the Past: Miami Vice and Grantland

I read a headline today with a link to a Bill Simmons podcast wherein he and another guy talk about a single episode of Miami Vice for 90 minutes. Oh, to have that job...

As rob and I talk about ad infinitum, we watched virtually every episode of Vice as re-aired on USA network in the summer of 1990. To think, it was just a few years old back then.

Well, during the lockdown, I re-watched a large number of those episodes once more. They're on Hulu.  They hold up surprisingly well. I mean, the fashion is just silly, but it's fun. The plots are worthy, the characters remain compelling, the recurring storylines are intriguing, the cavalcade of huge-or-soon-to-be-huge guest stars are unrivaled by just about any show, the cars are cool, and the music kicks ass. I just started to move through Season 4 (of 5) when I slowed to a halt, but the first three seasons are just plain light-hearted fun. 

And a nice companion piece to the latest Cocaine Cowboys piece, which I'm nearly through watching.

If you just feel like killing a few hours with Crockett, Tubbs, Castillo, Gina, Trudy, Switek, and Zito (poor Zito), check out the following episodes:

• 1-1; 1-2 "Brother's Keeper" (originally a two-hour pilot, but busted in half for your purposes): where it all began
• 1-5;1-6 "Calderone's Return" (Parts 1 and 2): the episodes discussed on SportGuy's podcast
• 1-7 "One Eyed Jack": the first appearance of both Castillo and Dennis Farina's Lombard
• 1-8 "No Exit": A pre-Moonlighting Bruce Willis as a nut job bad guy
• 1-16 "Smuggler's Blues": Glenn Frey, of course
• 2-1 "Prodigal Son": Miami v. NYC
• 2-12 "Phil the Shill": Phil Collins, of course, with Kyra Sedgwick
• 2-18 "The Fix": Bill Russell, Bernard King, Harvey Fierstein, and Michael Richards (as a huge douche)... I mean, wow
• 3-3 "Killshot": Lots of jai alai!
• 3-10 "Streetwise": Bill Paxton the cop and Wesley Snipes the pimp
• 3-12; 3-13 "Down for the Count": poor Zito

And my favorite of the lot, "Where the Buses Don't Run," a crazy episode about a crazy retired cop played by Bruce McGill, aka Daniel Simpson "D-Day" Day. A classic.

Anyway, the headline got me thinking. I have seen/read very, very little of Bill Simmons over the last few years, but that's just me. I know some of you may tune into his podcasts (obsolete grammar) or maybe read his posts somewhere, but I don't. 

As much grief as I gave the guy once upon a time here, apparently I really wanted his pet project Grantland to work in 2011. 

Read what I wrote here! It's worth a stroll through that last link, a post from 10 years ago. Just to see the comments and thoughts that rumbled through our heads. 

Grantland... well for all the fanfare, and a masthead with some really prominent, really stellar writers... it lasted for just 4 years. Maybe that's how these things should and simply do go. But we chug along here in the slow lane, and we're nearing our 18th birthday.

I still read some of the Grantland writers. Bill Barnwell on ESPN, Charles Piece on Esquire, especially Steven Hyden on Uproxx. Jonah Keri was one I followed, and I made the mistake of googling him -- not good, dude. That they were under one umbrella is impressive. If there's a similar assemblage of quality writing I should be reading, let me know. If you already have, maybe even more than once, sorry about that. 

In the meantime, here's a little South Florida wisdom for you.

Sonny Crockett: You just got to learn to go with the heat, Rico. It's just like life. You just gotta keep telling yourself, no matter how hot it gets, sooner or later there's a cool breeze coming in.

Ricardo Tubbs: Should I write that down?