Melba is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from January 28, 1986, until September 13, 1986. The series was a vehicle for singer/actress Melba Moore.
The show revolved around the home and work life of Melba Patterson (Moore), a divorced mother who was the director of New York's Manhattan Visitors Center. Melba was raising her 9-year-old daughter Tracy (Jamilla Perry) with the help of her mother Rose (Barbara Meek) and her white "sister", Susan Slater (Gracie Harrison). Melba and Susan had been close since childhood, since Rose was Susan's family's housekeeper when they were growing up. Jack (Lou Jacobi) and young Gil (Evan Mirand) worked for Melba at the visitors' center.
The sitcom was supposed to air on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. alongside Charlie & Co., another Black-oriented sitcom (as well as the Columbia network's answer to The Cosby Show). However, ratings for the first episode were so dismal (partly because it premiered on the same day as the Challenger disaster and the planned State of the Union Address, which was postponed the week after) that the network cancelled it outright. The other five episodes that were produced beforehand would be eventually burned off during the summer of 1986 on Saturday evenings.