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''Melody Rules'' was a New Zealand
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 ...
created by Geoff Houtman and Mihera Paterson for
TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...
. It featured former ''
Nightline ''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News (United States), ABC News' Late night television in the United States, late-night television news program broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC in the United States with a franchis ...
'' host Belinda Todd as Melody, a hard-working sibling guardian surrounded by a gaggle of eccentric friends and family. The series was structured in a similar manner to an American sitcom, containing elements such as a
laugh track A laugh track (or laughter track) is an audio recording consisting of laughter (and other audience reactions) usually used as a separate soundtrack for comedy productions. The laugh track may contain live audience reactions or artificial laught ...
and
vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...
-esque humour. Although it ran for a total of 40 episodes over two seasons in 1995 and 1996/97, it was neither a critical nor commercial success. It has been named one of the worst sitcoms of all time.


Premise

''Melody Rules'' centred on Melody Robbins ( Belinda Todd), a conscientious and mild-mannered travel agent attempting to rein in her wayward siblings while her mother is off on an archaeological dig in Malaysia. She is aided and abetted by Fiona (Susan Brady), her ditzy air hostess best friend; Brendan (
Alan Brough Alan Brough (; born 1967) is a New Zealand actor, television and radio host and comedian based in Australia. Career Early life Brough worked as an actor in Wellington and Auckland, mainly in live theatre. He also appeared in a series of butter c ...
), her hapless co-worker; and Neville (Alistair Douglas), her nosey, filthy, and unkempt neighbour with the catchphrase "Ya decent?". At the time, Todd was best known for her role as co-host of TV3's late news programme ''
Nightline ''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News (United States), ABC News' Late night television in the United States, late-night television news program broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC in the United States with a franchis ...
''. She had little acting experience and was known more for her sexy, outrageous on-screen persona.


Production

''Melody Rules'' was fledgling broadcaster
TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...
's first attempt at a sitcom, and it was hoped the show would form one of a number of flagship productions for the station. They received $1,262,990 funding from
NZ On Air NZ On Air (NZOA; ), formally the Broadcasting Commission, is an Crown entity, autonomous Crown entity and commission of the New Zealand Government responsible for providing funding for broadcasting and creative works. The commission operates l ...
for production. TV3 paid an American television writer, John Vorhaus, to hold workshops in New Zealand, teaching hopeful writers how to script an American-style sitcom. This influenced the style of ''Melody Rules''. According to director Michael Robinson, the recording of ''Melody Rules'' took place in a small studio at TV3's headquarters in Auckland. The scenes were shot with three cameras and the footage was vision switched (compiled at the time of recording from the three camera shots provided) from an outside broadcast unit in the loading bay instead of the studio control room. Due to the studio's size, there was no live audience so the laugh tracks had to be added during post production.


List of episodes


Season 1

#"Going, Going...Goner" (2 April 1995) #"Maximum Security" (9 April 1995) #"Basic Insect" (16 April 1995) #"Superstar: The Zoe Robbins Story" (30 April 1995) #"Crayfish L'Amour" (7 May 1995) #"Fried Green Blobs" (14 May 1995) #"Air Brendan" (21 May 1995) #"Gentlemen Prefer Babes" (28 May 1995) #"Lost in the Masquerade" (3 June 1995) #"The Fugitive" (11 June 1995) #"Movin' On Up" (17 June 1995) #"Here's to You, Misses Robbins" (24 June 1995) #"Death of a Saleswoman" (1 July 1995) #"Quality Time" (8 July 1995) #"Brendanstein" (15 July 1995) #"Tie a Yellow Chainsaw Round the Old Oak Tree" (22 July 1995) #"Stop Press" (5 August 1995) #"Luck Be a Monkey Tonight" (12 August 1995) #"Friendly Fire" (19 August 1995) #"The Honourable Mr Robbins" (26 August 1995)


Season 2

#"Inside Job" #"We Are Family" #"The Devil You Know" #"Gullibles Travels" #"Double Scotch"


Reception


Critical reception

Critical reception for ''Melody Rules'' was poor, and it is considered in New Zealand to be one of the worst sitcoms of all time. It has also become part of the lexicon within the Kiwi television industry to describe an unsuccessful sitcom; for example, "That show will be the next ''Melody Rules''." The series has been labelled as "cringeworthy" and "atrocious" by ''
The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation in New Zealand, ...
'', one of New Zealand television's "disasters" by ''
Scoop Scoop, Scoops or The Scoop may refer to: Artefacts * Scoop (machine part), a component of machinery to carry things * Scoop (tool), a shovel-like tool, particularly one deep and curved, used in digging * Scoop (theater), a type of wide area l ...
'', and "awful" by the ''
Waikato Times The ''Waikato Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Hamilton, New Zealand, and owned by media business Stuff Ltd. It has a circulation to the greater Waikato region and became a tabloid paper in 2018. The newspaper has won the title of N ...
''.
Alan Brough Alan Brough (; born 1967) is a New Zealand actor, television and radio host and comedian based in Australia. Career Early life Brough worked as an actor in Wellington and Auckland, mainly in live theatre. He also appeared in a series of butter c ...
and Belinda Todd both regret starring in the series; Todd compared it to ''
Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...
'' in terms of "bad luck", and described it as "absolutely ghastly."
Nightline 20th Anniversary Special
'' (2010). Graham, Mark (
executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...
).
MediaWorks New Zealand MediaWorks New Zealand is a New Zealand-based company specialising in radio, outdoor advertising and interactive media. It is owned by Australian out-of-home advertising company QMS. It operates eight national radio brands, eleven websites and ...
and
TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...
.
Brough described working on the series as "such a horrendous experience", adding "I was so embarrassed by it, I had to go overseas." Both Brough and Todd claim the series was substantial in convincing them to leave New Zealand and move to
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
and the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, respectively. The series has developed a "certain
cult status A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, book ...
" for its perceived low quality. Despite this, Brough and
Jodie Rimmer Jodie Rimmer (born 1974) is a New Zealand voice and performer actress best known for starring on '' Young Hercules'', as Lilith. Her work includes '' Xena: Warrior Princess'', '' Channelling Baby'', ''The Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stre ...
went on to lead fruitful acting careers, while Elliott O'Donnell is now known as Askew, a successful graffiti artist. The failure of ''Melody Rules'' has been attributed to poor comedy writing, low budget production, miscast actors, and cultural incompatibility between the American-style sitcom and the comedy that New Zealanders prefer. In the years since ''Melody Rules'', there have been no further American-style sitcoms produced in New Zealand.


Scheduling and ratings

''Melody Rules'' initially aired at 7pm on Sundays with the first episode ("Going, Going... Goner") aired on 2 April 1995. After being pulled from its Sunday night timeslot due to poor ratings, the series was moved to Saturdays at 7pm from 17 June to 26 August and then "stripped" five days a week, Monday to Friday, at 5pm during the summer of 1996/97.


Cultural references

In 2019, a comedy podcast about the creation of the sitcom titled "The Worst Sitcom Ever Made" was released by RNZ. Episodes were presented by creator Geoff Houtman and featured interviews from the writing staff, crew and cast members.


References

*Horrocks, Roger & Nick Perry (2004). ''Television in New Zealand: Programming the Nation'' p23 Auckland, N.Z.: Oxford University Press. {{Reflist, 2


External links


''Melody Rules''
at the
Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

Episode one of Melody Rules "Going, Going ... Goner"
1995 New Zealand television series endings 1994 New Zealand television series debuts 1990s New Zealand television series New Zealand television sitcoms Television shows funded by NZ on Air Television shows set in Auckland Three (TV channel) original programming