Last night ABC aired the first two episodes of their new series, 'Galavant', a musical, comedy set during the times of knights and fair maidens.  The show starts with the tale of Galavant (Joshua Sasse), a famous knight who fell deeply in love with the fair maiden Madalena (Mallory Jansen).  Everything was wonderful until the vile King Richard (Psych's Timothy Omundson) kidnaps Madalena to have her as her own.  However, when Galavant arrives on the wedding day to save Madalena she tells him she's decided she'd rather have the riches and power of being Queen than true love.  It's actually a great premise, think the Princess Bride, if Buttercup chose Prince Humperdinck over Westley (And Prince Humperdinck didn't plan to kill Buttercup).  The plot of the first two episodes follow Galavant and his Squire, Sid (Community's Magnitude, Luke Youngblood), as they begin a journey to help Princess Isabella (Karen David) save her parents from King Richard.





As enjoyable as Galavant's story is, it's King Richard that steals the show.  Omundson shines in every scene he's in (something that should come as no surprise to fans of Psych) and elevates the series from enjoyable to a must see.  In the first two episodes King Richard, oblivious to the fact that Madalena is having an affair with the court jester, uses Princess Isabella to convince Galavant to take on a quest that will end in Richard killing him.  King Richard hopes that by killing Galavant, he will simultaneous stop her incessant  it will win Madalena's heart.  Omundson's mix of evil and cluelessness is perfect and make King Richard the most intriguing character in the show by far.

I have not seen any of the remaining 6 episodes, but I will be tuning in each week (via Hulu) and seeing how Galavant's quest goes, and more importantly seeing if King Richard can win the heart of Madalena.