Melody Rules was a 1993 sitcom created by New Zealand TV station TV3. The series centred on sensible careerwoman Melody and her semi-dysfunctional family consisting of her teenage sister Zoe and their brother. Frequent recurring characters included an unkempt and filthy man as well as neighbour Crayfish. The series was structured in a similar manner to an American sitcom, containing similar elements including a laugh track and vaudeville-esque humour.
TV3 conceived Melody Rules in 1993 in hopes the show would form one of a number of flagship productions for the station. TV3 received $1,262,990 funding from NZ on Air for the production. TV3 hired the services of an American television writer, who held a number of workshops in New Zealand where he taught hopeful writers the craft of writing an American-style sitcom. Working with his ideas and formulas, Melody Rules was the end result. Due to poor ratings, the series was pulled from TV3's prime-time lineup in the summer of 1995, and was rerun at 2:00 and 3:00 AM on weekend and weekday mornings, only to be cancelled following two episodes per screening. 43 episodes in total were screened.
Melody Rules has received much negative criticism, including unfavourable comments on its humour and poor acting roles. It is now widely regarded in New Zealand as the worst TV3 sitcom of all time.