BWW Column: How Can GALAVANT Improve if Renewed for Unlikely Third Season?
By: Matt Tamanini Feb. 07, 2016
The second season of ABC's medieval musical comedy GALAVANT opens with a song entitled "A New Season," a direct response to the nearly unanimous opinion that it would be cancelled after its initial eight-episode run. However, despite middling numbers, ABC brought the quirky show from Dan Fogelman, Alan Menken, and Glenn Slater back this January. While I thought the sophomore season's comedy and storytelling were far superior to the often meandering first season's, Season 2 has struggled to find an audience, rarely able to garner even half the ratings share of Season 1. So, while it is looking extremely unlikely that ABC will roll the dice on the show again, if they do, I have some suggestions for Team GALAVANT that I think will give them a fighting chance in Season 3.
Big Name Broadway Guest Stars
For a number of reasons, financial and visual, the series shoots primarily in the UK, even though it has yet to air anywhere other than in North America. Due to their filming location, many of the show's guest stars haven't been huge draws for most of the US audience. Hugh Bonneville, Simon Callow, Kylie Minogue, Sheridan Smith, and Nick Frost all guested in Season 2, but despite having successful careers in the UK, none of these appearances were drew much interest stateside. "Weird" Al Yankovic and John Stamos have both appeared on the show, but neither is exactly a big enough name to increase ratings.
Therefore, if ABC greenlights a third season for GALAVANT, they should immediately start working on securing guest stars that a certain segment of American audiences would tune-in to see. Once they've made the commitment to involve higher profile American actors, the show's producers need to determine who the dwindling audience wants to see. Without studying any advanced metrics on the show, I would venture to guess that the majority of viewers have some sort of loyalty to Broadway and musical theatre stars.
Given that the current crop of Broadway A-Listers all grew up on Menken's beloved Disney musicals, I would imagine that many would jump at the chance to have the maestro write a song specifically for them. While of course salary and scheduling are always obstacles to overcome, you don't think that GALAVANT's Season 3 premiere would get a bump in ratings if Laura Benanti starred as a D'Dew master training the now fully evil Madalena?
What about Matthew Morrison as a knight riding in to rescue his younger brother Sir GALAVANT after King Richard gets him into another sticky situation?
Audra McDonald and Josh Gad recently wrapped filming on the live-action version of Menken's BEAUTY & THE BEAST, and I would have to imagine that they would be willing to work with him again. This would also be an excellent opportunity to cross-promote the film's March 17, 2017 release.
The fact is that GALAVANT is never going to be a huge ratings bonanza, but it is a nice filler before the February sweeps period kicks off. And, based on his comments at last month's TCA press tour, ABC president Paul Lee is a fan, and would like to keep the show running. However, for him to justify doing that, it has to at least have a steady audience, and loading the show up with Broadway guest stars is one way to nearly guarantee a regular, fairly affluent audience that advertisers covet.
Bring Back Rick Wiener and Kenny Schwartz
As I said above, I thought the plot and humor of the second season was a dramatic improvement over the uneven first. However, there is always room for improvement; case and point: the season's final two episodes, which aired back-to-back on January 31st. The episodes, "Battle of the Three Armies" and "The One True King (To Unite Them All)," were written by Rick Wiener and Kenny Schwartz who have collaborated as writers and producers for a number of comedies over the last two decades, most recently on MODERN FAMILY and AMERICAN DAD!
These two episodes had the sharpest comedic voice of the season, embracing and expanding upon the show's meta-humor and giving the jokes a bit of an edge that hadn't been there much this season. Now, I understand that the writing on TV shows, especially network comedies, is handled by a large group of people, and it is the responsibility of the EPs and show-runners to keep the tone consistent, however, there was such a marked improvement in this hour's dialogue compared to the rest of the otherwise strong season, that it would be foolish not to keep them around if their schedules allowed for it.
I have often described this show as Alan Menken's take on Monty Python. That is a very specific voice to maintain, and based on their season finale episodes, these two writers have the chops and the senses of humor to make that self-referential, self-deprecating tone work on a weekly basis.
Mr. Menken Needs Some Help
I know this will sound a bit sacrilegious to many of the diehard fans out there, but Alan Menken needs some help when it comes to writing the original songs for GALAVANT. Including reprises, Menken and lyricist Slater have penned 67 songs for the 18 episodes; that's nearly 3.75 per 30 minutes. That's a pretty high rate of production, no matter how accomplished one is, and to be fair, few, if any, are going to be inducted into the Menken Hall of Fame.
The second season had a handful of fun songs, but none as memorable as the first season's titular tune. Many of this season's numbers worked more on an intellectual level than a melodic one; specifically the homages to other musical theatre classics. In consecutive weeks, we saw a WEST SIDE STORY parody ("Dwarves Vs Giants" in the video above), a LES MISERABLES parody ("Today We Rise"), and a GREASE parody ("Finally"). I can't recall the melody of a single one of them, but I appreciated the allusions nonetheless.
One of the reasons that GLEE continued to maintain a foothold in popular culture long after its artistic credibility waned is that it gave the devoted fans a reason to purchase songs on iTunes; both increasing the show's profitability, and working as a way to keep the show fresh in their minds. If Menken, Slatter, Fogelman, et. al want to increase the reach of GALAVANT, they should give fans a reason to play the songs on their iPhones in between episodes. It will create a more committed fan base, and serves as an organic marketing tool as well.
Unfortunately, the first two seasons prove that Menken can't do it alone. So, I would recommend either cutting the song totals down to two per episode, and therefore theoretically increasing their quality, or bringing in other musical theatre stalwarts to pen tunes for certain characters.
Whether it is a BRING IT ON: THE MUSICAL situation where certain composers write for certain characters, or if specific guest stars bring their own writers that know their individual styles and strengths. Can you imagine the Andrew Lippa penned song that Kristin Chenoweth could slay in Season 3?
I think it is safe to say that whether it is live events, fully produced TV movies, or weekly series, musical fans want programs rooted in the theatre to succeed, and I am confident that if we are given something of substance, we will both watch and support. So, here's to an unlikely third season of GALAVANT, a second (more likely) season of CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND, and live musicals on all four broadcast networks!
What would you like to see on a third season of GALAVANT? Let me know in the comments below, or on Twitter @BWWMatt. If you want to follow along with my "366 in 366" articles, you can check out #BWW366in366 on Twitter.
Banner Image:
Vinnie Jones and Joshua Sasse. Photo Credit: Sife Elamine | ABC
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