MIAMI VICE, CRIME STORY & WISEGUY

If you’re hungry to watch some of the great police series from the late 80’s + 90’s, find a full list of my writing & producing credits on IMDB.com Then go to the following links to screen some of the episodes I wrote. My first script ever was “Top Of The World,” which was Episode 20 of Season 1 of CRIME Story, which Michael Mann, himself directed. After going on staff, I wrote the Season 2 opener: The Senator, The Movie Star and The Mob.

Michael then put me in The Writer’s Room on Season 4 of MIAMI VICE: where I co-wrote “A Bullet For Crockett”  Later, Stephen J. Cannell hired me as the show runner on WISEGUY where I wrote the ” Season 4 opener:  Fruit of The Poisonous Tree:

Crime Story starred, the late great former Chicago detective Dennis Farina.  That opening episode was the first major television role for Kevin Spacey playing a Bobby Kennedy-like figure who flies to Las Vegas to hold racketeering hearings.

The Miami Vice episode Rising Sun of Death was based on an investigation I did for ABC News on The Yakuza.

Another Season 4 episode, Baseballs of Death, was based on my ABC News probe into the use of cluster bombs.

The Season 4 Wiseguy episodes, starred Steven Baur who replaced Ken Wahl in the lead role. Cannell, who died tragically years before his time, was arguably the most prolific writer-producer of drama in TV history.

Wiseguy also co-starred Jonathan Banks, the veteran character actor whose career would later soar to new heights on “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul.”

Ironically Bauer jump-started his career again after appearing opposite Banks and Brian Cranston as Don Eladio Vuente, boss of the Mexican Ciudad Juarez Cartel who was poisoned by Gustavo Fring, the New Mexico meth kingpin played by Giancarlo Esposito.

“Miami Vice” was a breakthrough series, created by Anthony Yerkovich, but fully realized by Michael Mann.Think about how many writer/producer/directors could bring as much production value to a network cop series. After Miami Vice, not only did the use of source music change in prime time network television, but The City of Miami itself was remade in the color pallet that Michael painted.

Think about how many writer/producer/directors could bring as much production value to a network cop series. After Miami Vice, not only did the use of source music change in prime time network television, but The City of Miami itself was remade in the color pallet that Michael painted.

He brought feature film production values to television and soon-to-be stars like Bruce Willis, Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, Liam Neeson, David Strathairn, Benecio del Toro, Stanley Tucci, Steve Buscemi, Helena Bonham Carter, Charles S. Dutton, Michael Chiklis, Joan Chen, Ron Perlman, Annette Bening and Wesley Snipes.

Also, the series boasted an astonishing list of legendary character actors like Oliver Platt, Luis Guzman, Tony Sirico, Tony Plana, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Miguel Ferrer, Joaquim de Almeida, Mark Linn-Baker, Lonette McKee, Chris Elliott, John Turturro,  John Spencer, Phillip Baker Hall and James Hong.

And then there was the “stunt casting” of performance legends like Phil Collins, Glenn Frey, James, Brown, Willie Nelson, Little Richard, Leonard Cohen, Issac Hayes and Frank Zappa.

All of that the work of the great casting director Bonnie Timmerman, who also cast Crime Story for Michael Mann and most of his other feature film work.