“Galavant,” ABC’s new comedy-musical extravaganza, is a strange show to behold. It certainly doesn’t fit the mold of anything we’ve seen on television in a while. Reviewers have already compared it to “The Princess Bride” and Monty Python, but what else do they think about it? Overall, it seems like reviewers liked it, but are unsure of how it’s going to sustain itself over the course of its eight episode run.
Amy Ratcliffe from IGN wrote that the show takes the standard fairy tale heroic story and makes it fresh and fun with the additions of music and laughs. “Overall, most of the primary cast are engaging and leave you wanting more,” she wrote. “…They all play off each other, and it’s no small feat to have a cast this big interact seamlessly.”
Variety’s Brian Lowry wrote that the show is a success in that it manages to balance so many disparate elements into something cohesive. “‘Galavant’ largely overcomes the challenges that have traditionally bedeviled TV musicals with rambunctious energy, cheeky lyrics and music, and – significantly – a half-hour format, thus condensing the need to create songs into a manageable task,” he wrote.
USA Today’s Robert Bianco gives a tip of the hat to ABC “for at least trying something different” and writes that, in his opinion, the show is lacking. “…[A]s hard as everyone may be trying, nothing about ‘Galavant’…is quite as good as it needs to be – or nearly as good as the multiple spoofs it seems to be copying, in part because it never seems to be quite sure about what exactly it’s spoofing.” Alan Sepinwall from HitFix also seems to agree with Bianco, writing that after viewing six of the eight episodes, “unfortunately, the whole is less than the sum of its comic and musical parts.
Vulture’s Margaret Lyons, though, gives the show the benefit of the doubt, writing that “it’s funny and a little naughty, and ironic enough that it might loop all the way back to being earnest…And yet it’s more of an excellent specimen rather than an excellent TV show. It feels like a great recipe baked in the wrong-sized pan. Still good, but not its best self.”
What did you think about “Galavant”? Give your opinions in the comments section below!
