Melissa Blake is the unsatisfied assistant to Rob Tapert. When Kevin Sorbo, the star of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys goes missing, she suggests doing an episode about a "young Hercules". Tapert tells her it's a great idea for a spin-off. Blake has a crush on Kevin Sorbo an is visibly upset when she ends up hitting a cardboard cut-out of his character (HTLJ "Yes, Virginia, There is a Hercules").