Melanie (TV series)

Melanie is a Kuboian traditionally animated children's television series produced by Twinkle. The show focuses on the titular character, a spoilt and badly behaved seven year-old girl, and what she gets up to in her day-to-day life.

A total of two series consisting of forty eight 17-minute episodes were produced for the series. Production began in 2003, and the show premiered on KT on 24th April, 2006, with the final episode airing on 8th December, 2006. Reruns continued to air on the channel until its closure on 16th November, 2008.

Melanie was a controversial show during its original run, mostly due to the fact that the titular character usually gets away with her mischief. The show was also examined by several professionals globally to discover what behavioural changes occurred in children who watched the show. This led to it becoming popular during the mid noughties, and spawning a cult following. Since the mid 2010s, the show has been subject to several internet memes.

Premise
Melanie is a seven year-old girl who lives with her mother, Vivienne, and her stepfather, Edward. She attends the fictional Heathryoak Approach-Novice School, currently in her final year of Approach School. Melanie is not fond of school, and finds more fun misbehaving rather than learning. In each episode, Melanie is often faced with a problem, and often uses either wits or sneakiness in order to solve it.

Most of the prominent characters on the show are either teachers or students from Melanie's school - these include her three best friends; Gabrielle, Ussuf and Ny, her teacher; Mr. Fleece, and Heathryoak's amoral principal teacher; Mr. Crook.

Every episode has the name of a character in its title - that episode is told almost entirely in that character's perspective. This only applies to Melanie in the first series, but other characters begin to have their own episodes in the second series.

Melanie
Melanie (voiced by Suzie Hersham) is the show's titular character and main protagonist, a bratty seven year-old who continuously gets up to mischief. She frequently (and unintentionally) annoys people, and gets into trouble in school due to her naughty behaviour. Although she sometimes puts her friends before herself, Melanie is usually self-centred and attention-seeking. Despite her behaviour, she always gets away with her antics in the end, either by being sneaky, or getting saved by her friends or family.

Melanie's hobbies include watching television, playing video games, and basically doing anything that involves her getting what she wants, which is usually praise and/or attention. Her favourite food is chocolate, but also enjoys burgers and chips, and occasionally shows a liking for all types and flavours of crisps. She generally doesn't like food considered healthier, but will eat it if it's the only thing available.

Vivienne
Vivienne is Melanie's mother, who always defends Melanie when she causes trouble. Since she spoils her daughter badly, she is often blamed for Melanie's behaviour. Supposedly, Vivienne was a troublemaker when she was younger. As an occupation, she has two different part-time jobs; one as a leaf raker, and the other as a catering assistant in a café.

Ny
Ny is one of Melanie's three best friends, an effeminate boy who comes from a seemingly middle-class family. He enjoys shopping and worries about his hygiene and cleanliness. Ny usually gets annoyed at Melanie's immature behaviour, but remains her friend because she is nice to him. He often likes wearing a large bow or flower on his head, and also likes to wear bracelets around his wrists. Ny and Melanie appear to have a crush on each other.

Gabrielle
Gabrielle is the second of Melanie's three best friends. She is often grumpy, and has the tendency to mock her friends, such as criticising Melanie's behaviour, or insulting Ny for his interests, but apologises when told to do so. Gabrielle is a very determined individual, and will finish anything she starts.

Ussuf
Ussuf is the third of Melanie's three best friends, and the nicest towards her. Unlike most of the other characters on the show, he doesn't get annoyed by Melanie's behaviour, though he tries to not join in with it either. Ussuf is a curious individual, and enjoys wandering off and exploring new areas with Melanie.

Edward
Edward is Vivienne's boyfriend and Melanie's stepfather. He is a technician, and owns a lot of equipment, which he often lets Melanie try out.

Mr. Crook
Mr. Crook is the PT of Melanie's school, who is often in charge of improving the school's standards and dealing with misbehaving children. Whilst he takes his role seriously, and seems to care for the condition of the school, Mr. Crook occasionally abuses his powers, and sometimes acts dishonestly for personal gain.

Mr. Fleece
Mr. Fleece is Melanie's school teacher, who she has a mixed relationship with. He usually gives her into trouble for her antics, but sometimes feels sorry for her.

Julia
Julia is one of Melanie's classmates, who she has a rivalry with. She is fairly intelligent, and often gets annoyed by Melanie's antics.

Yoshi
Yoshi is a nine year-old boy who attends Melanie's school. Debuting in the second series, he is shown to have a very big imagination, and sometimes gives Melanie advice if she wants to make her life more interesting.

Ayton
Ayton is Melanie's father and Vivienne's ex-husband, who often shows concern for Melanie's behaviour, and tries to get her to act more mature, but it never works.

Dorothy
Dorothy is Ny's grandmother, who unintentionally embarrasses him with her loud and energetic behaviour and due to frequently acting "hip".

Sleazy Tom
Sleazy Tom is a recurring antagonist in the series. He is a professional robber who steals from public buildings, generally going after expensive and/or precious items, with the intention of selling them for money. All three of his plans get foiled by Melanie.

Episodes
In Kuboia, the first twenty-four episodes were aired in the middle of 2006, with the remaining twenty-four airing during the last few months of that year. These are listed as two different series in said country. However, certain countries list all forty-eight episodes as a single series.

Production
Melanie was conceived in late 2002, with production beginning in March 2003. Like most Kuboian animated series, a lot of time was spent on the show's animation, and not much time was spent elsewhere. In an interview on Bubblegum Radio in September 2006, Alpha Ipsum, the show's creator, mentioned that the premise of the show was finalised in under four days.

Music

 * Main article: Melanie - The Official Soundtrack

On 26th November, 2006, a compilation album featuring most of the vocal tracks and instrumental compositions that appear throughout the series was released worldwide. It reached number one on the Karuboia albums chart.

Original reaction
During its initial airing, Melanie was criticised in the media and by several parents. Criticism mostly drew to the fact that the titular character would usually get away with her bad behaviour, and often did not learn any lessons.

According to several primary sources, Melanie was under a lot of scrutiny in Kuboian schools in late 2006 and early 2007, with students studying the possible impact of young children watching the show. Different schools gave different results, but most claimed that children who watched the show were usually more assertive than those who didn't, but also generally more conscious.

Graduate popularity
Due to being scrutinised in the media, Melanie eventually gained widespread recognition, as well as a fanbase consisting of mostly children and preteens. The show notably spawned a cult following in Internet, where it became the basis for Interniot social networking site MelanieWeb. Alpha Ipsum, the show's creator, was reportedly shocked at the show's popularity, as Twinkle's previous television series generally failed to achieve mainstream status.

During the mid 2010s, the show started to become the subject of several internet memes.

Kuboia

 * Vision 1 (2006-2011)
 * KT (2006-2008)
 * Tooncast (March-August 2019)
 * Kiddioka (2019-present)

Australia

 * ABC for Kids (2007-2011)

Canada

 * TVOKids (2007-2010)

Central and Eastern Europe

 * JimJam (2006-2011)
 * KidsCo (2007-2013)

Charlesland Republic

 * CHT (2007-2010)

Circlia

 * Cartoonito (20??-present)

Conlandia

 * CBC Kids (2006-2010, 2016-present)

El Kadsre

 * Banushen Television (20??-?)

France

 * France 5 (2006-2008)

Gau

 * GBC Kids (2006-2009)
 * GBC Kids Jr. (2009-present)

Germany

 * Toggolino (2007-2009)

Internet

 * Nickelodeon (2007-present)

Ireland

 * TG4 (2006-2010)
 * Cúla 4 (2007-2009)

Italy

 * JimJam (2007-2011)

Japan

 * Tokyo MX (2006-2011)
 * Fuji TV (2008-2012)
 * TV Tokyo (2008-2009)

Jetania

 * Z Bop (2006-2010)

Latin America

 * Discovery Kids (2007-2013)

Mahri

 * MBC (20??-?)

Narthernee

 * N9 (20??-?)

Qualicia

 * Tresai (20??-?)
 * KidsQ (20??-?)

Philippines

 * GSTV (2008-2010)
 * GS Kids (20??-?)

Sakaria

 * TV5 (20??-?)

Schelipoerys

 * TV3 (20??-?)

United Kingdom

 * CITV (2006-2009)
 * Milkshake! (2007-2010)

United States
Tickle-U aired an Americanised version of the show. However, all other channels broadcast the original Kuboian version.
 * Tickle-U (2006-2007)
 * Discovery Kids (2007-2010)
 * Sprout (2010-2011, 2015-2017)

Worldwide

 * Netflix (201?-present)

Theatrical film

 * Main article: Melanie's Mega Movie

Tropes

 * Main article: List of Melanie (TV series) tropes