User:Beetricks/Cat on the Roof/Melanie Miller

Melanie Nox Fallon Miller (née Fallon; formerly Fallon-Unsworth) is a fictional character with a supporting role in all six seasons of Cat on the Roof. Part of the Fallon dynasty with her twin Jill Fallon-Kinney, she is depicted as a career-minded celebrity geographer and filmmaker who's grown too cool for Nat Geo and the Discovery Channel. She is the ex-wife of the deuteragonist Tucker Unsworth, who divorced her after 15 years of marriage. She remarried later to a journalist Mr. Miller in season 3. As a mother of four, Griffin is her only child from her first marriage and three other children were born from her second marriage.

Before the events of the show, she went missing by accident while hiking in woodlands on Thanksgiving 2003. Jill found her on an NHK show a year later as a guest, and flew to Japan in search for her. It took roughly 6 months to find her alive and in May 2005 she was returned to her residence near Manhattan. In "In Court", Tucker admits that he threatened to ruin her career as a conservationist by alleging that she lied about a plan to deforest a tree for Christmas. It was later used in court to advocate for his full custody of 12-year-old Griffin. The case was settled with a 2-2-3 plan of joint custody—which meant that Fallon-Unsworth only could see her son on Wednesday and Thursday.

In season 2, Fallon was promoted to the main ensemble cast as the show explored and expanded on the theme of family, human nature and generations.

Early life

Melanie Nox Fallon was born on July 28, 1970, at a hospital in Luton, a town in Bedfordshire, England. Her parents are American and of Irish, French and English ancestry.

Personal life

Marriage to Tucker Unsworth

In October 1989, she was lobbied to meet Jill's muse, 25-year-old catcher (Stanley) Tucker Unsworth. While she was reluctant at first (having seen the fabric artwork Jill did of him naked), Fallon grew grateful for the encounter and became interested in him. The couple and third wheel Jill would hangout on a table near the sisters' college campus and talk of family, nature and sports. After a quick two months of dating, Fallon and Unsworth got engaged in December 1989. The large marriage ceremony took place another two months later (Feb 1990) with 178 guests. She soon after changed her surname from the maiden 'Fallon' to the hyphenated 'Fallon-Unsworth'. Her decision to retain her family name was for 'preservation'. Though, her son Griffin would not share the hyphenated name when he was born on September 12, 1992. Balancing dynamics was 'difficult' during the relationship, as mentioned on "Documentary on the Roof" (mockumentary special aired 2007, mid-season 3). Unsworth increasingly became negligent in favour for his career continual by 1994. His absence left Fallon-Unsworth displeased, for which he was sorry.

The marriage withstood the blunder. Though it did begin to falter in the late-1990s after a cheating scandal broke out in the press about Unsworth during parties. Fallon-Unsworth eventually he doubts about his loyalty, then separated from him between 1998 and 1999. Though she never considered divorcing him since she believed in redemption. 2003 was the turning point for the marriage. That year she was made aware of more affairs Unsworth was having away from home. In retrospect, she believes she was tricked into regaining trust in him.

The Thanksgiving hike and divorce

A day after Thanksgiving (2003), Fallon-Unsworth went on a hike with the family cat Jerma (age 11 months). A cavernous meteor struck in the woodlands and hit the two. They remained trapped for a day before Jerma dug the way out. For nutrition, they discovered a box of exportable goods to eat. Unfortunately, it was very big so it meant that the package was in fact for shipping to Japan. The woman and the kitten were smuggled by sheer accident, and the two were reported missing days after.

The food company took notice of them on arrival but forgot to register them to customs. By early 2004, she had befriended the CEO in anonymity with a deal to promote a brand of mochi balls as a voice actress. She accepted the offer and a commercial was advertised around summer.

She was returned to the Unsworth family residence in May 2005.

Trivia

She is one of the only two British-born characters in the series, the other one being her twin sister Jill.
She is of Irish, English and French ancestry.
Her favourite genre of music is folk.
She loves American football.
- "The Mannings are hot!!", her blog c. 2010
She was 19 when she married Tucker.
- She often blames her young age for getting too carried away with love.
- Tucker was her first love, as she swore to never date unless it ended in marriage.
The only members in her ex's family she still trusts apart from her son Griffin is Rick, Nick and Amelia.
- Rick because he consoled her privately after her divorce.
- Nick because she is an empath.
- Amelia because they are mutual Tucker haters.
She is an environmentalist.
- Griffin teases her whenever she gets scared about him whenever he trashes old game boxes or puts plastic packaging in the bin.
  - "Your aunt Jill could've melted that plastic for her art!"
She loves collecting plant seeds and eggs.
In their residence, she and Mr Miller have a countless amount of pets.
- From 2003 until his death in 2007, she was the sole owner of the former family cat Jerma.
- They even own a hedgehog.
She is a left-wing socialist.
- Political debates with Tucker would always result in physical violence.