TV Show Review: Galavant - The Complete Series

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Comedy, musical, delightful

Cons: Could great cruder than I enjoy at times

The Bottom Line:

This odd little show

Mixes music and laughs for

A really fun time

Quirky Show That Really Worked

ABC tried a different approach over the last few years – putting their shows in two uninterrupted brackets and then having other shows to fill in during the hiatus.  The biggest fill in show was Agent Carter, which had a small but very loyal fan base.  But I’m not here to talk about that show today.  Instead, I’m here to talk about Galavant, the show that ABC put on Sunday nights to fill in while Once Upon a Time was on hiatus.  It was a quirky show that doesn’t seem like it should work, but it worked beautifully.

We meet Galavant (Joshua Sasse) as he is at his lowest.  He’s lost his true love, Madalena (Mallory Jansen), to King Richard (Timothy Omundson), a power hungry man intent on taking over all the known realm.  Fortunately for us, Sir Galavant is talked into going on a quest to save Madalena, taking Sid (Luke Youngblood) and Isabella (Karen David) along with him.  Just what will happen along the way?

The plot teaser barely begins to adequately describe this show.  It’s a comedy, and a single camera comedy.  It’s set in a fairy tale like universe that includes knights and jousts and even a dragon.

And have I mentioned that it is a musical as well?  With songs composed by Alan Menken, best known for his work on many Disney animated films like Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin.  The songs have some of the best jokes of each episode.

You can see why I called the show quirky.  This isn’t your normal show, and its ratings reflected the fact that the target audience is small.  Yet I found myself in that target audience more often than not.  Yes, some times the comedy got cruder than I appreciate, and the songs aren’t exactly the kind of inspiring things you might picture from a musical.  But they are so wickedly funny.

The ratings were so low I was actually surprised when we got a second season.  I was glad because we had quite the cliffhanger at the end of season one.  Season two mixes the cast and who is questing with whom, and the results are also delightfully fun.  And to show you the kind of show this was, season two kicked off with a big production number named “A New Season.”  It recapped the first season, but it also kept breaking the fourth wall as the characters sang about how surprising the second season even was.

The actors are all great.  As a fan of psych, I loved seeing Timothy Omundson in a different role.  I wasn’t familiar with anyone else, but I quickly became fans.  They are all perfect in their parts, and they can all sing so well.

This show featured half hour episodes, and we usually got two back to back.  Between the two seasons, we got 18 episodes, and all of them are present in the complete series DVD set that Visual Entertainment, Inc. has just released.  And I know I mentioned a cliffhanger at the end of season 1.  Don’t worry, while season 2 left things open enough that they could tell more stories if they got renewed, this wrapped most things up and didn’t leave us with any major cliffhangers.

I fully realize that Galavant isn’t for everyone, but I certainly enjoyed the quest.  If the show sounds at all appealing to you, do yourself a favor and give it a try.  My guess is, you’ll find you enjoy it.