Galavant
ABC | Release Date: January 4, 2015
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
14
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
IndieWireLiz Shannon MillerJan 16, 2015
Season 1 Review: Galavant is perhaps most watchable thanks to the fact that there isn't anything like it on TV right now, and likely never will be replicated. Beyond that, it's silly but fun--rare enough in this world. Read full review
83
Uncle BarkyEd BarkJan 6, 2015
Season 1 Review: These guys know what they’re doing. And this time they’re doing it with a welcome edge in rousing, ribald times. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyDanielle NussbaumDec 19, 2014
Season 1 Review: Fans looking for wit and whimsy can expect a happy ending. [26 Dec 2014/2 Jan 2015, p.115]
80
Sioux City JournalBruce MillerJan 4, 2016
Season 2 Review: Like a gentler Monty Python venture, Galavant pokes, prods and pummels current events. It doesn’t get down and dirty, but it isn’t afraid to wallow every now and then. When it does so with a little song and dance, there’s enough fun to last longer than 30 minutes. Read full review
80
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerDec 31, 2015
Season 2 Review: This is a deceptively difficult form to nail; often those who try end up with little more than a collection of flatulence jokes. Done right, though, as it is in "Galavant," a mindless comedy is not the same as a dumb comedy. It’s smart, just in a carefree way. Read full review
80
We Got This CoveredMitchel BroussardDec 31, 2015
Season 2 Review: Galavant's second season improves upon [the first season's] memorably anarchic humor in a way that feels revitalized and once again energetic. Read full review
80
Sioux City JournalBruce MillerJan 5, 2015
Season 1 Review: Written by Dan Fogelman, Alan Menken and Glenn Slater, the new musical miniseries on ABC has so many clever bits and witty songs you’ll think someone wrote a sequel to “Spamalot.” Read full review
80
The WrapJethro NededogJan 4, 2015
Season 1 Review: No part of the equation that makes up Galavant is subtle. It piles on the songs, the choreography, the bawdy humor and the clever writing. That deep dive into the genre is what will help viewers shake off the doubts we had going into it. Galavant is a uniquely enjoyable ride. Read full review
80
VarietyBrian LowryJan 2, 2015
Season 1 Review: 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. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandDec 30, 2014
Season 1 Review: The music is effective without being especially memorable. You may not leave your living room humming any of it, but you’ll still be chuckling over some of the jokes in the lyrics, many centered on puns, childish humor and groan-inducing obviousness. Read full review
70
VarietyBrian LowryDec 31, 2015
Season 2 Review: While it's cleverly conceived and occasionally witty, "Galavant" generally plays like a narrowly pitched come-on to theater geeks and fans of early Monty Python. Read full review
70
Las Vegas WeeklyJosh BellJan 8, 2015
Season 1 Review: TV audiences may not have known they needed a small-screen equivalent of Spamalot--and the network may not really know what to do with it--but Galavant turns out to be completely winning in all its cheesy glory. Read full review
67
HitfixAlan SepinwallJan 2, 2015
Season 1 Review: Unfortunately, the whole is less than the sum of its comic and musical parts. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKate KulzickJan 2, 2015
Season 1 Review: Galavant’s focus on lighthearted quips and banter over character growth or introspection keeps it from packing the punch of its more emotionally driven precursors, but its sincere embrace of musical-theater tropes and unabashed silliness are likely to win the show a loyal fan base nonetheless. Read full review
60
SalonSonia SaraiyaJan 8, 2015
Season 1 Review: Galavant is extremely silly--but at least it knows it’s silly. Read full review
60
Boston GlobeMatthew GilbertJan 3, 2015
Season 1 Review: Galavant is a musical spoof of knight-in-shining-armor stories that is slight, unoriginal, and uneven, but that can be amusing and diverting nonetheless. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesRobert LloydJan 3, 2015
Season 1 Review: At times it feels enough that the players seem to be enjoying themselves to enjoy it alongside them. Read full review
60
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoJan 2, 2015
Season 1 Review: Half the jokes are inspired; half the jokes hit the floor. Read full review
60
Denver PostJoanne OstrowJan 2, 2015
Season 1 Review: Self-indulgent but packed with great cameos and kitschy production numbers, the whole affair could have been a tight 90 minutes. Instead it's flamboyantly self-referential and clocks in at four hours. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Margaret LyonsJan 2, 2015
Season 1 Review: I wish Galavant were a movie. I found the show charming and festive and impressively committed, but in half-hour chunks, there's very little room to build the kind of momentum the series needs. Read full review
60
SlateWilla PaskinJan 2, 2015
Season 1 Review: This is, without question, the oddest show to arrive on television in quite some time. ... [But] unlike the best musicals and fairy tales, it never once transports you to a land far, far away. Read full review
60
Washington PostHank StueverJan 2, 2015
Season 1 Review: The show offers an excess of mildly clever yet sincere goofiness. It’s as if someone set out to make a Spamalot for an audience that can’t quite grok Python, would find Into the Woods too morose and maybe missed half the pop-culture references in the Shrek movies. Read full review
50
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerJan 2, 2015
Season 1 Review: Despite some amusing bits and clever songs, it’s only occasionally as much fun as it ought to be. Read full review
50
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenJan 2, 2015
Season 1 Review: The series does try to develop its characters, but Galavant never quite finds a way to ideally pull together its gonzo comedic spirit and musical aspirations. Read full review
50
USA TodayRobert BiancoJan 2, 2015
Season 1 Review: 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. Read full review
42
NewsdayVerne GayJan 3, 2015
Season 1 Review: It's all got the stirrings of something that should be funny, or wants to be funny, except that it's too often not - confoundedly, relentlessly, insistently not. [3 Jan 2015]
40
The OregonianKristi TurnquistJan 4, 2015
Season 1 Review: It comes off as way too broad to be witty, and too raunchy to be a comfortable fit for family viewing. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyJan 3, 2015
Season 1 Review: Just being incredibly good-natured isn’t quite enough to create a show you’d want to watch every week. Read full review
30
Vox.comEmily VanDerWerffJan 5, 2015
Season 1 Review: These jokes aren't funny ones. They're old, threadbare ones that Galavant does nothing to build upon. In fact, they might be Galavant in a nutshell: everything seems different, but this is the same old TV slop in a different suit of armor. Read full review
30
Yahoo TVKen TuckerJan 5, 2015
Season 1 Review: Galavant feels like a slapped-together production that will only confirm the suspicions of heathen TV-watchers who think most musicals consist of flimsy stories padded out with tunes that repeat the plot developments. Read full review
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