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Everybody's in Showbiz
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Season
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Episode
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23 (67th Overall)
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Airdate
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May 1, 1987
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Repeat Airdate
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July 1, 1988
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TV Rating
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TV-14 L-V
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Writer(s)
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Director
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Guest Stars
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Previous Episode
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Next Episode
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"Everybody's in Showbiz" is the twenty-third and penultimate episode of Miami Vice's third season. It premiered on May 1, 1987, and was rerun on July 1, 1988.
Summary[]
An actor becomes the target of a drug dealer when he steals the dealer's briefcase and the information inside.
Plot[]
Tubbs is with a dealer named Don Gallego while Crockett follows. Then two punks in masks and professional makeup go into Gallego's limo to rob him and Tubbs, wanting cash and Gallego's case. Gallego reluctantly surrenders the case to the punks, and they flee.
The Vice team wonders why Gallego would willingly give up a wad of cash but be prepared to die for a briefcase, if it contains a list of dealers or wholesale contacts. Gina & Trudy go into a makeup shop where Gina is scared by a moving dummy, then the owner Ochburg comes out about the list of people he's sold his makeup to. He provides it, but it's for the entire state and they ask him to narrow it down a little. Meanwhile Gallego has found where the punks work, and go to find them. Crockett goes to see Mikey, an ex-con who works at the Mi Vida Loca theatre and asks him about the theft, but he is very evasive about it and wants a warrant, Tubbs then pulls up with the warrant, and they arrest Mikey, and tie him up while they search and Mikey recites poetry. They do not find the case and Mikey becomes violent when taken to jail.
Castillo assigns Switek undercover duty at the theatre while Crockett & Tubbs stay on Gallego, who stops by the theatre with his goons, who give them 24 hours to get his case back or he will kill the people who took it. Gallego takes a man named Conejo who gives him three hours to find the case or they will kill him. Mikey's agent Marty Glickburg bails him out and wants his autobiography written ASAP. Mikey told him he spend the advance one night and he isn't writing it. Crockett & Mikey recite poetry at a gazebo then Mikey splits when Crockett tells him he's dead because of Gallego looking for him. Gallego refuses to do business with Tubbs (as Cooper) until he gets his case back. Crockett will press hard on Mikey to find the case. Switek is dressed up as Elvis singing in the theater and Mikey goes nuts about his impersonation and goes into a theatrical oratory about "The King", he stops and collapses on the stage.
Crockett recites poetry to Mikey while laying in bed, and blasts him for self-indulgence and stupidity and people are going to die for him not returning Gallego's case. Conejo requests to speak with Mikey in private, who asks him where the case is, they pull it out, Mikey takes a piece of paper out and sneaks out a window. Switek finds copies of what was in the case and calls Crockett, who thinks Mikey is going to sell it, which he is, and when Mikey finds Gallego, the dealer shows him Conejo dead in his trunk, and that Mikey will join him. Mikey wants to work out a deal with Gallego, but he's not interested in deals and stabs Mikey, then throws him into the water.
Crockett & Tubbs find the copies and notice numerous funeral home contacts, and they find it's a cover for a crack lab, the embalming room acts as a lab with cold vaults to store and the crematorium to burn the evidence. Castillo gets warrants for the mortuary. Crockett & Tubbs find Mikey on a boat bleeding and they get him an ambulance while they rush to the mortuary, where they find Conejo's body being burned as well as the crack evidence. The vice squad arrest Gallego and his goons and find Conejo's body before it was burned and get the evidence out. Mikey is dying from his injuries but wants to see Crockett & Tubbs. Mikey wants to hold some money before he dies, because he came into the world ragged and broke, and Tubbs gives him a wad of $100s before he "dies". Driving away in the car, Tubbs recites part of Mikey's poem, and he and Crockett look at each other and quickly turn back to the hospital where they find Mikey did not die, that he stole some drugs, took Tubbs' money, and left the hospital on his own.
Cast[]
- Don Johnson as Metro-Dade Detective James "Sonny" Crockett
- Philip Michael Thomas as Metro-Dade Detective Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs
- Saundra Santiago as Metro-Dade Detective Gina Calabrese
- Michael Talbott as Metro-Dade Detective Stan Switek
- Olivia Brown as Metro-Dade Detective Trudy Joplin
- Edward James Olmos as Metro-Dade Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo
Guest Stars[]
- Michael Carmine as Mikey
- Paul Calderon as Don Gallego
- Coati Mundi as Conejo
- Benicio del Toro as Pito
- Charles Keating as Marty Glickburg
Co-Starring[]
- Mario Ernesto Sanchez as Paco
- Luis Valderrama, Francisco Padura, and David Joseph Martinez as Ex-Cons
Notes[]
- This is the only time in the series that a single sequence contains three separate songs performed by the same artist. However, while officially considered separate tracks, the three Chris de Burgh songs used each segue into one another, creating what is effectively a single eight-and-a-half minute composition with three distinct sections.
- Jan Hammer's music used in "The Maze" appears here, especially in the scenes involving Mikey and his poetry.
- The name of Coati Mundi's character, "Conejo," means "rabbit" in Spanish but also has a somewhat vulgar colloquial meaning.
- Using the embalming room of a funeral home as a cover for a crack manufacturing operation makes a certain amount of sense, since chemistry equipment and chemicals are stored there. So does using the crematorium for the disposal of dead bodies or illegal substances in an emergency. But there is no need for cold storage facilities, as suggested by Crockett.
- The IMDB reviews and ratings for this episode lead it to be one of the ten lowest rated episodes of the series on that website. as of December 2023.
Goofs[]
- When Crockett is reciting Mikey's poetry to him in the rain, he is facing away and has to turn his head to look at Mikey. However, when the camera cuts, Crockett is suddenly facing directly towards Mikey.
Production Notes[]
- Filmed: February 27, 1987 - March 6, 1987
- Production Code: 62031
- Production Order: 67
Filming Locations[]
- Washington Avenue at Espanola Way, Miami Beach (Opening where Tubbs/Gallego are mugged by Mikey/Conejo)
- Biscayne Magic, 1680 NE 123rd Street, North Miami (magic store)
- 412 Espanola Way, Miami Beach (Mi Vida Loca theater)
- 5200 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach (Gallego/bodyguards/Mikey meet, Crockett/Gallego meet, Crockett/Tubbs find Mikey in boat)
- Miami Beach Police Department, 1100 Washington Ave, Miami Beach (Mikey argues with Glickberg)
- Norman Mendelson Miami Beach Chess Club, 2100 Washington Ave, Miami Beach (Crockett/Mikey chess park)
- 21st Street Recreation Center. 2100 Washington Ave, Miami Beach (Higher Light Mortuary)
- Glendale Memorial Hospital, 1420 South Central Ave, Glendale, CA (hospital exterior)
- Mount Sinai Medical Center, 4300 Alton Road, Miami Beach (hospital interior)
Music[]
- "The Leader" by Chris de Burgh (Crockett finds Mikey on boat)
- "The Vision" by Chris de Burgh (Shootout at Funeral home)
- "What About Me?" by Chris de Burgh (Crockett & Tubbs see Mikey in hospital)
Quotes[]
- "I'll kill you, I'll kill you forever!" -- Gallego to the punks that rob him
- "That ain't Elvis, man. That's a nickel and dime impersonation of an Elvis impersonator! You wanna see Elvis? I'll show you Elvis! Watch. You got something for this, Dr. Kick? Yeah, I am the king! Mama! Mama! I hate this place! They love me until I got nothing! Mommy! Mommy! I can't do this no more! -- Mikey to Switek Demonstrating the "Real Elvis"
- "I do not exist in fear!" "No! You know where you exist? Self-indulgence. And stupidity." --Mikey to Crockett, who calls him out on his recklessness
- "A junkie, a thief, a mugger I've been, I've committed every known sin." --Mikey, while being arrested, followed by Tubbs while they are leaving the hospital