‘Galavant,’ ambitious but disappointing

Parents often feel that they have to be encouraging when their children try something new or make a special effort. That’s why so many refrigerators are covered with photos of kids on the high dive or running a 5K.

ABC’s new musical-comedy series “Galavant” is definitely something new that required special effort, so one can’t help feeling obligated to praise it and even watch it.

But sadly, the series isn’t funny enough — or enough fun. It’s easier to appreciate than enjoy.

Premiering with two half-hour episodes on Sunday, Jan. 4, at 8 p.m., “Galavant” is about a brave knight of that name (Joshua Sasse) who is smitten with the beautiful Madalena (Mallory Jansen). As the opening production number puts it, “He loved her to excess/Thrice daily, more or less.”

King Richard (Timothy Omundson) kidnaps Madalena, intending to force her to marry him. But when Galavant heroically interrupts the wedding, Madalena tells him that she rather likes the idea of being wealthy and famous and living in a castle.

Down and out, Galavant is approached by Isabella (Karen David), the princess of Valencia, who tells him that she has been spying in King Richard’s palace and that Madalena is pining for him. She offers to help him free Madalena if he will help her free her parents, who are Richard’s prisoners.

Viewers may hope that the show will take a satiric look at the Middle Ages like “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” but the comedy is more like Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood parody “Men in Tights.” The writer, Dan Fogelman, whose credits include “Tangled” and “Cars,” relies on Brooks’ tricks of anachronism and bumping into the fourth wall.

For example, in the third episode (six were provided for review), when Galavant’s party stops in the home village of his squire, Sid (Luke Youngblood), we learn that Sid was adopted by an older couple who speak in stereotypical Jewish-American accents. The entire village sings a song in Sid’s praise that’s full of Yiddishisms and ethnic references. (“Our Sidney is the knight who put the sir in circumcised!”)

When Sid says, “You know that expression ‘It takes a village’?” Galavant replies, “No, it hasn’t been invented yet.”

In the second episode, to earn travel money, Galavant enters a joust. His opponent is the vain Sir Jean Hamm (John Stamos), who likes telling “your mama” jokes.

The actors are likable, but with a few exceptions, they aren’t natural comedians. This fault is highlighted when Ricky Gervais has a cameo as the magician Xanax in the sixth episode. Presumably working with the same writers, he’s hilarious.

The songs, by the composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater, who collaborated on “Tangled,” are more inventive in the lyrics than in the melodies. But the cleverness is the sort that calls attention to itself without making us actually laugh.

The choreography and staging of the musical numbers is generally perfunctory. There’s a nice moment when Madalena harmonizes with her reflections in a room full of mirrors.

In a running joke, characters keep trying to discourage other characters from breaking into song. Viewers of might find themselves agreeing with them.

It’s not that we don’t appreciate the effort that went into “Galavant”; it’s just a little sad when that effort isn’t worth the payoff.