mel ‧ o ‧ dra ‧ ma /ˈmelədrɑːmə $ -drɑːmə, -dræmə/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable and countable]
[ Date: 1800-1900 ; Language: French ; Origin: mélodrame , from Greek melos ( ⇨ ↑ melody ) + French drame 'drama' ]
1 . a story or play in which very exciting or terrible things happen, and in which the characters and the emotions they show seem too strong to be real:
He was behaving like a character in a Victorian melodrama.
2 . a situation in which people become more angry or upset than is really necessary:
Come on, there’s no need for all this melodrama.