TV, Interrupted: Galavant Was A (Glorious) Fairy Tale Cliché

For four glorious weeks in 2015, audiences were treated to four pairs of back-to-back episodes filled with goofiness and gallantry, each week upstaging the last with increasingly hilarious and elaborate plotlines and musical numbers. Composing legend and EGOT earner Alan Menken has long been a fixture in pop culture due to his work penning the "Little Shop of Horrors" musical and writing songs for Disney's animated films during their Rennaissance era, and his pen remains just as sharp on "Galavant." Songs like "My Dragon Pal and Me" add whimsy to the Arthurian slapstick, making for a one-two punch of entertaining escapism. /Film's Hoai-Tran Bui sang its praises in the Daily Stream column last year, calling it "one of the great undersung shows of 2015."

As fun as the good guys are, it's the baddies that put a twinkle in the show's eye. Horror fans might recognize Timothy Omundson from the CW series "Supernatural," where he played the murderous Cain in a memorable guest role. On "Galavant," Omundson is a vicious king who lists the ways he'd like to murder Galavant while traipsing through his castle like a psychotic Gene Kelly. He told a Supernatural Seattle audience in 2016 that his audition process took five months, and it shows. Omundson is clearly having the time of his life as the fragile King Richard, whether he's spectacularly failing at stealth in the "Secret Mission" song, or bragging to a love interest that he "killed the bad guys and everything" at war.

Omundson's Richard is tethered by his right-hand man, Gareth, played by a steely-eyed Vinnie Jones. Even playing the thug (as he often does), the former midfielder and "Midnight Meat Train" villain has such a varied resume that it's not that much of surprise to see him throwing jazz hands and making death threats in a period-satire TV series. Anyone familiar with Jones' aggressive football history will find it a treat to see him do a demi-pointe, and that upending of expectations extends throughout the entire series.

As with so many shows cut down before the third season, there is a wealth of neglected potential surrounding a climactic Battle of the Three Armies. "Galavant" season 2 began with the (former) King Richard left without a throne or a queen, as the scheming Queen Madalena got a taste of the high life and refused to go back. She named henchman Gareth as her king, and while the two eventually got along and even shared a kiss in episode 4 (titled "Bewitched, Bothered, and Belittled"), Madalena soon dabbles in the dark arts and commands an army of the undead against the rest of the characters, eventually vanishing after defeat at the hands of a liberated Princess Isabella. Her upgrade to sorceress would have been sure to cause trouble for the entire Seven Realms, and the final episode observes her striking an alliance with (and gaining mentorship from) the Evil Dark Lord to grow her powers.

Richard (who inadvertently scored a magical sword that revealed him as the one true king of the Seven Realms) never got to have a healthy relationship with the wife he kidnapped. But over the course of the second season, he links up with a childhood friend and after the battle, the pair have married and settled down together along with Richard's pet lizard Tad Cooper, who has grown into a massive dragon. I say again: ABC has denied us a season with a royal fire-breathing dragon named Tad Cooper.

Our hero Galavant survives the battle and reunites with Isabella, and both have declared their love for each other. They marry (with Weird Al and some monks officiating) and put down roots in a seaside home, while her parents ascend the throne of Valencia (again). In short, nearly everyone got their happy ending — but only briefly.