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.

Although the series was short-lived, it has frequently been reran on television worldwide. Reruns continued to air on KT until its closure on 16th November, 2008. Reruns were later aired on Boomerang from February 2010 until April 2011, and the show was temporarily aired on Tooncast during the middle of 2019. Reruns are currently airing on Kiddioka as of October 2019.

Melanie received high ratings during its heyday, and has since spawned a significantly large cult following. Despite this, the show has also faced criticism due to the misbehaviour caused by the titular character throughout the series.

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 (and only) 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 is spoilt by her parents and frequently misbehaves in school. She frequently (and unintentionally) annoys people, and gets into trouble 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 has long, straight blonde hair, and usually wears an.

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, a dark blonde-haired effeminate boy who comes from a seemingly middle-class family. He enjoys shopping and worries about his hygiene and cleanliness. Ny has the tendency to get angry at minor things, and usually gets annoyed at Melanie's immature behaviour, but remains her best friend because she is nice to him. He often likes wearing a large ribbon 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, though they try to hide this.

Gabrielle
Gabrielle is the second of Melanie's three best friends. She is a lot more sensible than Melanie, but can be very arrogant and hypocritical. Gabrielle occasionally criticises Melanie for her behaviour, or Ny for his interests, but she apologises if it begins to annoy everybody else. Gabrielle is a very determined individual, but this sometimes causes her to get too competitive, or take things too seriously. She has light brown hair, which she either wears straight or in a ponytail.

Ussuf
Ussuf (pronounced "Ooh-suff") is the third of Melanie's three best friends, who is curious and affable, though has difficulty taking certain situations seriously. Unlike her other friends, Ussuf doesn't get annoyed at Melanie's misbehaviour, but generally tries to avoid getting involved in any mischief or arguments. He is a lot more energetic and athletic compared to the rest of his friends, and likes to show off.

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 the former doesn't appear to see much of. He lives out in the countryside, and has a large garden with a custom-made treehouse. Ayton seems to be unaware of his daughter's mischievous behaviour, as Melanie tries to hide it from him.

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.

Marketing and promotion
Melanie was promoted on the KT website as early as January 2006. Advertisements for the show began airing on the channel in March that year before its premiere on 24th April. It was frequently advertised as being part of the channel's weekday morning lineup during the spring of 2006.

Music

 * Further information: Melanie - The Official Soundtrack

Most of the music heard in Melanie is of the neo soul and acid jazz. All of the show's music was composed by Sidney Plaskett between 2003 and 2004. The show's main theme, "Melanie's Theme", was released as a promotional single in April 2006. 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 of children who were fans of the show. Criticism mostly drew to the fact that the titular character would get overly spoilt by her mother and stepfather, would always get away with her bad behaviour, and often did not learn any lessons.

Kuboian author and media personality Fyp Housin in particular criticised the show for having very little educational value, and mentioned how Melanie typically solved her problems by using manipulation or sneakiness.  gave the series a 2/5 rating, noting "The characters, typically the titular character, behave badly, and are rarely held responsible for their actions.". In contrast, in his review of the show, comedian Brud McCrew gave Melanie a 7.5/10 rating, calling it "hilarious stuff".

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.

Home media
A total of eight DVDs, each featuring six episodes of the series, were released in Region 2 throughout 2007 and 2008.

YouTube
On 29th June, 2019, episodes of Melanie began to be uploaded on a YouTube channel titled ScampTV. Prior to this, episodes were uploaded onto different channels on the website, but were usually in bad quality.

Other internet services
As of 2019, all 48 episodes of Melanie are available on Netflix and Amazon Prime.

In other media
Sandoval Group Ltd. produced one kiddie ride based on the show in 2007.

Kuboia

 * KT (2006-2008)
 * Boomerang (2010-2011)
 * Tooncast (March-August 2019)
 * Kiddioka (2019-present)

Australia

 * ABC for Kids (2007-2011)

Canada

 * TVOKids (2007-2010)
 * Toon-A-Vision (2019-present)

CalicoValdezland

 * CVT Kids (2006-present)

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??-?)

Floweria

 * Kidzone (2007-2010)

France

 * France 5 (2006-2008)

Gau

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

Germany

 * Toggolino (2007-2009)

Indosa

 * Further information: Melanie (Indosan dub)


 * Disney XD (2020-present)
 * IBN Kids (2019-present)

Internet

 * Nickelodeon (2007-2019)
 * VCR (2019-present)

Ireland

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

Israel

 * Hop! (2006-2017)

Italy

 * JimJam (2007-2011)

Japan

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

Jetania

 * TBC

Latin America

 * Discovery Kids (2007-2013)

Mahri

 * MBC (20??-?)

Marvatia

 * Little Pluto (2006-2011)

Narthernee

 * N9 (20??-?)

Netherlands

 * Z@ppelin (2006-present)

Qualicia

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

Philippines

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

Sakaria

 * TV5 (20??-?)

Schelipoerys

 * TV3 (20??-?)

Stevia

 * Treehouse (2006-2015)
 * Family Jr. (2015-present)

United Kingdom
Melanie premiered in the United Kingdom on CITV in October 2006. The show was later acquired by Milkshake! in March 2007.
 * CITV (2006-2009)
 * Milkshake! (2007-2013)
 * Tiny Pop (2015-2017)

United States

 * Further information: Melanie (American dub)

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 (2010-2017)
 * Universal Kids (2020-present)

Theatrical film

 * Main article: Melanie's Mega Movie