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''Melissa & Joey'' is an American television
sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...
starring
Melissa Joan Hart Melissa Joan Hart (born April 18, 1976) is an American actress. She had starring roles as the title characters in the sitcoms ''Clarissa Explains It All'' (1991–1994), ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996 TV series), Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' (1 ...
and
Joey Lawrence Joseph Lawrence Mignogna III (born April 20, 1976) is an American actor, musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, podcaster, and game show host. He was a child actor in the early 1980s and portrayed Joey Russo in '' Blossom'' and Joe Longo ...
that aired for four seasons between 2010 and 2015 on
ABC Family American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...
(now Freeform). The series title reflects the actors' names, not their characters', as it follows local politician Melanie "Mel" Burke (Hart) and Joseph "Joe" Longo (Lawrence), whom Mel hires to look after her niece Lennox Scanlon (
Taylor Spreitler Taylor Spreitler (born October 23, 1993) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Days of Our Lives characters (2000s)#Mia McCormick, Mia McCormick in the soap opera series ''Days of Our Lives'' (2009–2010), Lennox Scanlon in ...
) and nephew Ryder Scanlon ( Nick Robinson) after a
Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italians, Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of s ...
run by Mel's sister and brother-in-law leaves Joe broke. The series was picked up originally for a pilot and season one containing 12 episodes – this premiered August 17, 2010. Then, due to the success of the show, ABC Family renewed it for 18 more episodes on October 8, 2010, which premiered June 29, 2011. The series was renewed by ABC Family for a second season of fifteen episodes, which began airing on May 30, 2012, and ended on August 29, 2012. During the second season, ''Melissa & Joey'' ranked as cable television's #1 telecast at 8 o'clock across target audiences 18–34, 18–49 and 12–34 demographics. On August 17, 2012, ABC Family renewed ''Melissa & Joey'' for a third season, set to premiere on May 29, 2013. On May 28, 2013, ABC Family announced that the third season would be expanded by 20 episodes, and that the show had also been renewed for a fourth season, bringing the series total to 100 episodes. The show proved to be quite successful for ABC Family as, in its third season, it established a 13-week high in total viewers, an eight-week high in viewers between the ages of 18–34 and 18–49 and a 15-week high in female viewers between the ages of 12–34. During the fourth season, the show reached a milestone of 100 episodes for syndication purposes but declined in the ratings. Along with most ABC Family shows, the declining number of viewers watching ''Melissa & Joey'' occurred in tandem with a general trend of reduced numbers of television network subscribers. Looking to marginalize these declines, the show accelerated the availability of its episodes to non-provider-authenticated ABC Family subscribers with
Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...
Plus to three weeks post broadcast. On February 9, 2015, ABC Family announced its decision to end the series after four seasons. The series finale aired on August 5, 2015.


Series overview

Mel is a local politician from a political family. When a family scandal leaves her niece, Lennox, and nephew, Ryder, without their parents, Mel takes them in. Meanwhile, Joe is a former commodities trader left bankrupt after a
Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italians, Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of s ...
, and finds himself searching for a job. So when Mel finds it hard to handle an instant family and her own life, she hires Joe to become the family's
nanny A nanny is a person who provides child care. Typically, this care is given within the children's family setting. Throughout history, nannies were usually servants in large households and reported directly to the lady of the house. Today, modern ...
. The show stars two former teen idols who were notable for roles they played in popular 1990s sitcoms, Lawrence for ''
Blossom In botany, blossoms are the flowers of stone fruit trees (genus ''Prunus'') and of some other plants with a similar appearance that flower profusely for a period of time in spring. Colloquially, flowers of orange are referred to as such as w ...
'' and Hart for ''
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' is a comic book series published by Archie Comics about the adventures of a fictional American teenager named Sabrina Spellman. Sabrina was created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, and first appea ...
''. Hart and Lawrence are both listed as executive producers of the series, and have each directed individual episodes.


Episodes


Cast and characters


Main

* Melanie Alison "Mel" Burke (
Melissa Joan Hart Melissa Joan Hart (born April 18, 1976) is an American actress. She had starring roles as the title characters in the sitcoms ''Clarissa Explains It All'' (1991–1994), ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996 TV series), Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' (1 ...
) is a
city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...
woman in
Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...
(the youngest in the city's history, as Mel repeatedly brags). She is also a
senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...
's daughter. Growing up, she was a rebellious, irresponsible party girl, and now she must take care of her niece and nephew after their mother (her sister, Meredith) was arrested for money laundering and their father disappeared to avoid arrest for running a Ponzi scheme. Over the course of season 3, she and Joe start dating in the mid-season episode " A Decent Proposal", becomes engaged in "
Right Time, Right Place ''Right Time, Right Place'' is a duo album by American jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton and Canadian pianist Paul Bley. The album was recorded in Denmark and released in 1990 via GNP Crescendo label. Background The album contains recordings perfor ...
", and marry in the season finale, "
At Last "At Last" is a song written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren for the musical film ''Sun Valley Serenade'' (1941). Glenn Miller and his orchestra recorded the tune several times, with a 1942 version reaching number two on the US ''Billboard'' pop ...
". She runs for Congress in season 4 and learns that she and Joe are having twins. * Joseph Paul "Joe" Longo (
Joey Lawrence Joseph Lawrence Mignogna III (born April 20, 1976) is an American actor, musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, podcaster, and game show host. He was a child actor in the early 1980s and portrayed Joey Russo in '' Blossom'' and Joe Longo ...
) is a former executive and commodities trader with an
MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...
who lost his job, money and marriage in the wake of Mel's brother-in-law's Ponzi scheme and wound up living in his car. Seeing that Mel needed help raising her niece and nephew (and that he needed a job), he has agreed to be the live-in nanny/ house manager to assist Mel and give advice to the kids. He was born in a U.S. Army hospital in
Uijeongbu Uijeongbu (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It is the tenth-most populous city in the province and a suburb of Seoul within the greater Seoul Metropolitan Area. History Uijeongbu was estab ...
,
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
, and raised in
Secaucus, New Jersey Secaucus ( ) is a Town (New Jersey), town in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 22,181, an increase of 5,917 (+36.4%) from the 2010 United St ...
. He also has a brother named Tony who briefly dated Mel and a sister named Teresa. It was revealed he has a 13-year-old daughter named Dani (Jada Facer) with a woman named Felicia (
Brooke Burke Brooke Lisa Burke (born September 8, 1971) is an American television and fitness personality, model, author, actress, and businesswoman. She is known for hosting the E! Network travel show '' Wild On!'' (1999–2002), CBS's ''Rock Star'' (2 ...
). Over the course of season 3, he and Mel start dating, get engaged, and marry. During season 4 he writes a book, which is published in the series finale, complete with an invitation to go on a book tour. * Lennox Elizabeth Scanlon (
Taylor Spreitler Taylor Spreitler (born October 23, 1993) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Days of Our Lives characters (2000s)#Mia McCormick, Mia McCormick in the soap opera series ''Days of Our Lives'' (2009–2010), Lennox Scanlon in ...
) is a free-spirited teenage girl who, at first, is against the idea of living with her aunt, but soon comes to terms with it. Lennox is known for her artsy, hipster style and extremely vocal liberal views and ideas. Her longest relationship thus far has been with Zander. They broke up when he left Ohio for school in Vermont and Lennox stayed in Toledo to attend the University of Toledo. They get back together, but then break up again after Zander finds out that Lennox had a relationship with Joe's nephew, Marco; then Zander slept with his roommate, keeping them apart. In the season 3 finale, she hooked up with Marco to forget about Zander, but continued their relationship afterwards and in the series finale she and Zander get engaged. * Ryder Scanlon ( Nick Robinson) is Mel's nephew, and the youngest in the household. In the series pilot, it is mentioned that he suffered a nervous breakdown and burned his father's suits in the driveway. Like many teenage boys his age, he enjoys watching television and playing sports and chasing girls. Lennox often makes jabs at her brother for being a "nerd", but it is not clear if this is true or just a brother-sister teasing relationship. Ryder is suspended from school in Season 3 for smoking marijuana on a school trip. In Season 4 he joins the Navy and is stationed in
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
, Virginia.


Recurring

* Stephanie Krause (
Lucy DeVito Lucy Chet DeVito (born March 11, 1983) is an American actress. She was a recurring character on ABC Family's ''Melissa & Joey'' (2010–2012), starred in the Hulu sitcom ''Deadbeat'' (2014–2015), and was a main voice actor and executive produ ...
) is Mel's legislative assistant and former intern, beginning with episode 7. Hyperactive and fiercely loyal, Stephanie is keen to schedule interviews, photo opportunities, and media coverage for Mel. She regularly exhibits that she has a crush on Joe. * Rhonda Cheng (
Elizabeth Ho Elizabeth Ho is an American actress. Early life and career Ho was born and raised in San Francisco, California. Her mother is actress and dancer Jennifer Ann Lee, who appeared in a number of Broadway productions including ''A Chorus Line'' and ...
) is Mel's press secretary appearing in 5 of the 6 first episodes. She's a giddy yet loyal friend to her and always gives her dating and/or parenting advice. * Tiffany Longo (
Megan Hilty Megan Hilty (born March 29, 1981) is an American actress and singer. She rose to prominence for her roles in Broadway musicals, including her performance as Glinda in '' Wicked'', Doralee Rhodes in '' 9 to 5: The Musical'', and her Tony Award– ...
) is Joe's former wife, first seen in episode 13. Their on-again, off-again relationship is punctuated by bouts of lovemaking in unusual places. * Holly Rebeck ( Rachel G. Fox) is Ryder's extremely aggressive, controlling girlfriend. She is often manipulative, jealous, and conceited, and Ryder is usually submissive to her demands. Later on, she gets help with her "controlling" issues, though sometimes she can't help but be a bit demanding. She broke up with Ryder in the beginning of the third season after she found out he smoked pot on the school trip. * George Karpelos, Jr. (
Scott Michael Foster Scott Michael Foster is an American actor who was born around 1985. He is best known for his roles as Captain John Paul "Cappie" Jones in the ABC Family comedy-drama series ''Greek'' (2007–11), Leo Hendrie in the ABC Family drama '' Chasing Li ...
) is Mel's 24-year-old lover, starting with episode 21. He is an independent business entrepreneur who loves bicycling. Their relationship is put on hold when George moves to Italy for business, and later, Mel breaks it off. * Roman Maizes ( Chris Brochu), a nerd and Lennox's boyfriend in the first season. * Russell Burke ( Christopher Rich) is Mel's father, the former Senator of Ohio, who is very indulgent to his grandchildren and tends to undermine Mel's authority with them. He left his wife Monica for a 28-year-old yoga instructor but returns to his wife when Mel informs the yoga instructor that her father had a vasectomy. * Elena Romanov (
Anya Monzikova Anya Monzikova (; born August 25, 1984) is a Russian-American model and actress, best known for being a suitcase model on the American game show, ''Deal or No Deal'' (2006–2009). Early life Monzikova was born in Vologda, Russian SFSR, Soviet U ...
) is a Russian businesswoman whom Joe marries at the end of the second season. Their marriage ends when she moves back to Russia to testify for an old colleague. * Leo Larbeck (
Joel McKinnon Miller Joel McKinnon Miller (born February 21, 1960) is an American actor who is best known for portraying Don Embry on ''Big Love'' (2006–2011) and Detective Norm Scully on ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'' (2013–2021). Early life Joel McKinnon Miller was ...
), the friendly contractor who helped Mel and Joe remodel the house in the beginning of the second season. * Jackie (
Christine Lakin Christine Lakin (; born January 25, 1979) is an American actress and director. She is best known for her role as Alicia "Al" Lambert on the 1990s ABC/ CBS sitcom '' Step by Step''. She also played Joan of Arc on Showtime's ''Reefer Madness'', ...
), Mel's best friend from college, who is her only other single friend. She plans to get a sperm donor to have a baby without having to marry someone, and Mel unwittingly leads her to purchase Joey's sperm. * Haskell Davis (
Gregg Sulkin Gregg Sulkin (born 29 May 1992) is an English actor. He made his television debut in the 2002 miniseries ''Doctor Zhivago (TV series), Doctor Zhivago'', and his film debut in the 2006 comedy ''Sixty Six (film), Sixty Six'', before gaining early ...
), Lennox's boyfriend in the second season. * Aidan Haber (
Cody Linley Cody Linley is an American actor and singer. He played a recurring role as Jake Ryan in the television series ''Hannah Montana'', and was a contestant on the seventh season of ''Dancing with the Stars'', in which he was partnered with Juliann ...
), the president of the Spirit Committee at Lennox and Ryder's school. Became romantically involved with Lennox in the second season. * Monica Burke (
Rita Rudner Rita Rudner (born September 17, 1953) is an American comedian. Beginning her career as a Broadway dancer, Rudner noticed the lack of female comedians in New York City and turned to stand-up comedy, where she has performed for over three decades. ...
), Mel's neurotic mother who gets back together with her husband Russell after Mel ruins his relationship with his mistress by telling her about his vasectomy. * Austin (
Trevor Donovan Trevor Donovan (born Trevor Donovan Neubauer; October 11, 1982 ) is an American actor and model. Life and career Donovan was born in Bishop, California, and raised in Mammoth Lakes, California, Mammoth Lakes. He had short stints in 2007 on the N ...
) is Mel's childhood friend who is back in town. * Noah (
Justin Hartley Justin Scott Hartley (born January 29, 1977) is an American actor, television producer, and director. He has played Fox Crane on the NBC daytime soap opera '' Passions'' (2002–2006), Oliver Queen on the WB/ CW television series ''Smallvill ...
) Mel's boyfriend in
season 3 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...
, who temporarily moves in with her after his apartment floods. * Zander Carlson (
Sterling Knight Sterling Sandmann Knight (born March 5, 1989) is an American actor, singer, and dancer. He is known for his role as Chad Dylan Cooper in the Disney Channel sitcom '' Sonny with a Chance'' and its spinoff '' So Random!'', Zander Carlson in '' Me ...
), Lennox's boyfriend in the third and fourth season. He is also a talented artist, and provides illustrations for Lennox's web series "Cassandra". After a car accident, Zander and Lennox decided to take their relationship to the next level and got engaged in the series finale. * Keira (
Sadie Calvano Sadie Calvano (born April 8, 1997) is an American actress, known for her role as Violet Plunkett on the CBS sitcom ''Mom''. In 2016, she played the title role in the television film ''The Perfect Daughter''. Biography Calvano was born on Apri ...
), Ryder's girlfriend in the third season. * Dani Mancini (
Jada Facer Jada Mae Facer is an American actress and singer. She played the recurring role of Joe's daughter, Dani, on the sitcom ''Melissa & Joey'' from 2014 to 2015. She has a YouTube channel and as of October 21, 2023, she has over 154 million views and ...
), Joey's long-lost daughter, revealed in late season three. She decided to live with Joey and Mel while her mother goes on tour. After her mother returned, Dani moved back with her, but still keeps in touch with Joey and Mel. * Felicia Mancini (
Brooke Burke Brooke Lisa Burke (born September 8, 1971) is an American television and fitness personality, model, author, actress, and businesswoman. She is known for hosting the E! Network travel show '' Wild On!'' (1999–2002), CBS's ''Rock Star'' (2 ...
), Dani's mother who works as a professional band massager. * Anthony "Tony" Longo (
Matthew Lawrence Matthew Lawrence (born Matthew William Mignogna; February 11, 1980) is an American actor, podcaster and singer, widely known for his roles in '' Mrs. Doubtfire'', ''Boy Meets World'' and ''Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad''. Lawrence also starred ...
), Joe's younger brother. Actor Matthew Lawrence and Joey Lawrence are brothers. * Marco ( Kevin Fonteyne) Joey's nephew and Lennox's ex-boyfriend who she dumped when he left for Japan for six months. * McKenna Cederstrom (
Greer Grammer Kandace Greer Grammer (born February 15, 1992) is an American actress and former beauty queen. She is best known for her role as Lissa Miller in the MTV series '' Awkward'' and for her role in the 2021 Netflix-released film '' Deadly Illusions''. ...
), an aspiring actress whom Lennox and Zander hire for the role of "Cassandra" in their film. She and Zander become romantically involved, until realizing he still loves Lennox. * Noelle ( Hayley Erin), Lennox's friend who develops a crush on Ryder.


Development and production

The series marks the second time Hart and Lawrence have co-starred together in an
ABC Family American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...
production; their first was the 2009
television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...
, '' My Fake Fiance''. ''Melissa & Joey'' was criticized early on for lacking sufficient chemistry between the leads and a "will they, won't they" theme present in their earlier project, ''My Fake Fiance''. On October 8, 2010, ABC Family announced their order of an additional 20 episodes for the first season, creating a season of 30 episodes. The mid-season finale for season one aired on October 26, 2010. The second half of the first season began airing on June 29, 2011. On July 11, 2011, ABC Family announced that ''Melissa & Joey'' had been picked up for a second season. On August 17, 2012, ABC Family announced that ''Melissa & Joey'' had been picked up for a third season. Both Lawrence and Hart directed episodes in season two. Lawrence's episode is called "Wherefore Art Thou Lennox" and Hart was the first woman to direct an episode of the series. The series was filmed before a live studio audience at
CBS Studio Center Radford Studio Center, alternatively CBS Studio Center, is a television and film studio located in the Studio City district in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, United States. The lot has 18 sound stages from , of office spac ...
stage 14. The house used for exteriors is located in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles. On February 9, 2015, ABC Family announced its decision to end the series after four seasons.


Broadcast

''Melissa & Joey'' premiered on
STAR World India Star World (stylized in all capital letters) was an Indian pay television channel owned by The Walt Disney Company India, a company wholly owned by The Walt Disney Company. During its tenure it had mainly telecast shows from multiple Disney-ow ...
on October 6, 2011. In Southeast Asia, it premiered on
STAR World Star World, currently stylized logo-wise in capital letters and formerly known as Star Entertainment Channel and Star Plus respectively, is an Asian English language entertainment television channel originally launched on 15 December 1991 by ...
in 2011. In the United Kingdom, all episodes were put on Sky On Demand on July 1, 2014 and began airing on E4 on July 28, 2014.


Home media

On May 24, 2011,
Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...
released ''Melissa & Joey: Season One, Part One'' on DVD in Region 1. Special features include a sneak peek of the remaining season 1 episodes, bloopers, and featurettes with Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence. On October 4, 2011, Shout! Factory released ''Melissa & Joey: Season One, Part Two'' on DVD in Region 1, collecting the final 18 episodes of season one in a 2-disc set.


Reception


Critical reception

On the
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, first season holds an approval rating of 45% based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 6.50/10. On
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the first season of the show holds a score 53 out of 100 based on reviews from 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


Ratings

The show stood as Wednesday's #1 cable TV telecast at 8 o'clock in Adults 18–34, Women 18–34, Women 18–49 and Females 12–34 Demographics. The show continued to dominate its cable time period during its second season, ranking #1 across key measures Adults 18–34, Women 18–34, Adults 18–49, Women 18–49, Viewers 12–34 and Females 12–34. The following is a table with the average estimated number of viewers per episode, each season of ''Melissa & Joey'' on
ABC Family American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...
.


Accolades


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Melissa And Joey 2010 American television series debuts 2010s American political comedy television series 2010s American romantic comedy television series 2010s American multi-camera sitcoms 2015 American television series endings ABC Family original programming American English-language television shows Television series about nannies Television series about families Television series about siblings Television series by Disney–ABC Domestic Television Television shows filmed in Los Angeles Television shows set in Toledo, Ohio