Forgotten Television: Galavant

Way back in days of old
There was a legend told
About a hero known as Galavant
Square jaw and perfect hair
Cojones out to there
There was no hero quite like Galavant
Tough, plus every other manly value
Mess with him, he’ll disembowel you
Yay, he ruled in every way
A fairy tale cliché
And people called him Galavant

The lyrics above are to the opening number of this more recent entry into the realm of forgotten television, Galavant, which premiered on January 4th, 2015, and ran for two seasons and a total of eighteen episodes.  With satirical lyrics and music by Alan Menken, Christopher Lennetz and Glenn Slater, this gem of a series is described as “the bastard child of Monty Python and The Princess Bride”. The show was daring, clever, adventurous, romantic, funny, entertaining and just plain fun to watch. Plus, Joshua Sasse can not only sing, but is very easy on the eyes.

The plot is a “fairy tale cliché” but with a twist.  In the first episode, Sir Galavant (Joshua Sasse) is in love with Madalena (Mallory Jansen) who is kidnapped and being forced to marry King Richard (Timothy Omundson).  Galavant races to stop the wedding, only to find that his one true love, would rather be queen, rich and powerful and in a loveless marriage, than marry for love.  The Damsel in distress turns out to be one of the villains of the show.  The rest of the season is Galavant’s journey with Princess Isabella (Karen David) and his squire Sid (Luke Youngblood), to rescue Isabella’s kingdom from King Richard and Madalena. Season two continues the story, with King Richard and Galavant now on the same team and struggling to get back to Isabella to rescue her.  More songs, romance and a lot of satirical commentary, some of which is even aimed at ABC, the network Galavant appears on.

This was a must watch show for me, as I am particularly fond of musicals, and a big fan of Alan Menken’s music.  Menken also acts as one or the executive producers of the program.  Most of the episodes were filled with rememberable songs that you find yourself humming or singing to throughout the day and very clever lyrics that were both hard hitting at times, but also witty and funny.  The script itself was well written and had the same humor and biting wit that the song lyrics had, and although the setting is medieval times, the vernacular is modern, adding to the humor and making the series more relatable to the audience. The storyline is full of twists and turns and never got boring.  The actors were all perfectly cast with most of them having wonderful singing voices and impeccable comic timing.  Vinnie Jones as Gareth, the king’s main henchmen is one of the few whose singing voice is not up to par with the rest of the cast, but his acting and stature make up for his lack in vocal ability. The series also brough in special guest stars like Weird Al, Ricky Gervais and Kylie Minogue.  Kylie sings my favorite song from the series in her cameo appearance, “Off with his Shirt” taking place in the “Enchanted Forest” a gay pub. Being a more recent entry, this show may not be as “Forgotten” as some of the older series we have focused on, but it is a shame that it only lasted two seasons.