Tally-ho! It's "Galavant"! (Finally) Huzzah!

Tomorrow. It's finally happening.

Galavant has taken his time getting onto our screens (I was blogging about his imminent arrival in the middle of last year), but this is for good reason/s (I'm led to believe) and both the critical and pop culture buzzes are excellent.

If you're new here and are wondering "What be this Galavant?" (imagine I used an Olde English font there, would you?), here's a brief low-down:

Once upon a time, the dashing hero, Galavant (Joshua Sasse) lost the love of his life, Madalena (Mallory Jansen), to the evil King Richard (Timothy Omundson). Now, our fallen hero is ready to take revenge and restore his “happily ever after.” But it won’t be without a few twists and turns (and random show stoppers) along the way. 

Insert your own snarky caption here...

Galavant's creators have quite the pedigree, which if the premise worries you at all, should give you a reason to consider taking a peek at this one. Here's the promo list from the official website:

Screenwriter/executive producer Dan Fogelman (Crazy, Stupid, Love, Tangled, Cars) teams up with Broadway and Hollywood award-winning musical team -- composer Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast) and lyricist Glenn Slater (Tangled) -- for a 4-week comedy extravaganza. 

They've already managed to attract some celebrity guest stars too (John Stamos, Weird Al, Ricky Gervais), which is almost unheard of on a new series. And then there's this aspect that has me looking forward to it very much as well:

"... we shot it in real, practical locations, as opposed to shooting on sound stages and sets; we went and shot it in England in real castles and real fields. And we had the costume designers from Downton Abbey so even though it's a silly comedy and sometimes people are breaking into song, it is the real thing." ~ creator Dan Fogelman (source)

If you like Monty Python, The Princess Bride, Once Upon A Mattress and musical comedy that doesn't take itself at all seriously with toe-tapping tunes, then Galavant is for you - for us! It's a very ambitious project which is likely to either shine or flop at each point of it's journey.

The Main cast, supported by hundreds of other excellent and silly people

I have my fingers crossed for their success. Mainstream storytelling has been so serious for so long, that despite some of it being excellent, we're incredibly overdue for some smart and fun series to inspire us and the next generation (and perhaps remind us to laugh at ourselves every once in a while).

The mini-series/limited run/whatever you want to call it, is designed, ABC programming-wise, to fill the gap during Once Upon A Time's lengthy hiatus, and it might well do the trick. Or, if it's as good as it looks like it might be, Once Upon A Time is going to have a hard act to follow for the second half of their season with the (now-banished from Storybrooke) Rumple and the trio of wicked women (Ursula, Maleficent and Cruella)!

Take a look at the animated sing-along lyrics for a taste of the style and audience "participation" the cast and crew are hoping for:

And here's one of the best promos for any new show that I've seen in a while (and yes, this is an official one):

What are you waiting for? Go set your alarm clocks (or DVRs) and get ready to find yourself humming tunes and snatches of ridiculous/hilarious lyrics in inappropriate places... ;)