Melanie Nichols (CSI: Miami)

Melanie Nichols (Jackie Debatin) is the hidden main villainess from "Show Stopper," episode 8.12 of CSI: Miami (airdate January 11, 2010). She is the mother of famous pop star Phoebe "Phoenicks" Nichols.
During a special concert, Phoebe is shown being burned to death on stage, though it was later revealed that the woman performing as Phoenicks was actually her lookalike stand-in, Vanessa Patton. Vanessa performed as Phoenicks so Phoebe could get away from the music business; something she had wanted for a while.
When Melanie was informed about her daughter, she appeared to be in grief; however, after the real Phoebe was found alive (having been drugged by her personal doctor, Allan Beckham, under the orders of manager Julian Diehl), a GPS chip was found in her right arm and tied to Melanie. During her encounter with Calleigh Duquesne, Melanie claimed that she wanted to keep track of Phoebe out of fear that she was losing her. Regarding her lack of knowledge of Phoebe's imprisonment, Melanie claimed that she thought the chip had malfunctioned, while also accusing Diehl of keeping Phoebe from her. 
As the episode progressed, however, it was revealed that Vanessa was killed by a stun gun fired by Phoenicks super fan Robbie Ferguson, and that Melanie was the villainous mastermind. Melanie found out that Vanessa was posing as Phoenicks, and during a concert, she spotted Robbie and informed him that the girl she saw wasn't really Phoenicks. Melanie turned heel by coercing Robbie to "expose" Vanessa, leading to Robbie firing the stun gun at Vanessa, killing her and setting her on fire. The villainess claimed to Robbie beforehand that he needed to act to get "our" Phoebe back, but in actuality, the evil Melanie devised the plan so she could continue basking in her daughter's fame, and she masked her heel persona by portraying herself as a worried and caring mother.
After Robbie was arrested, he stated to Horatio Caine that "all we wanted to do was expose her," which revealed that he had an accomplice. It was later on that Horatio stated to Melanie that Robbie named her as his accomplice, and in response, she attempted to tell Phoebe that she did what she did for her, only for Phoebe to state to her callous mother that all Melanie cared about was the fame. Under Horatio's orders, Melanie was handcuffed and arrested; with the villainess asking Phoebe how she could do this to her, and still claiming to care for her daughter.
==Trivia==
*Jackie Debatin also played villainess Angel on V.I.P., and appeared on Life as the evil Stephanie Borns.
*Melanie Nichols is similar to Castle villainess Marilyn Sutton, as both were mothers of young female stars who wanted out of the limelight, leading to these villainous mothers resorting to murder to keep living off their daughters' fame. In addition, their murder victims were stand-ins for their daughters, but one difference is that Marilyn acted alone in her murderous quest, Melanie had an accomplice.
Category:2010s
Category:Blonde
Category:Bondage Used On Villainess
Category:Callous
Category:Conspirator
Category:Deceiver
Category:Greedy
Category:Live Action Villainess
Category:Master Manipulator
Category:Mother
Category:Murder: Indirect
Category:Murderer
Category:Villainous Reveal
Category:Fate: Arrested
Category:Would Hurt a Child