Benson (TV series)

Benson
Created by	Susan Harris
Starring	Robert Guillaume James Noble Missy Gold Inga Swenson Rene Auberjonois Billie Bird Didi Conn Bob Fraser Donna LaBrie Caroline McWilliams Ethan Phillips Jerry Seinfeld Lewis J. Stadlen
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	158
Production
Running time	22 minutes per episode
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	September 13, 1979 – April 19, 1986

Benson was an American television series which aired from 1979 to 1986 on ABC. The character of butler Benson DuBois, played by Robert Guillaume, had originally appeared on the soap opera parody Soap.

In the show, Benson had been hired to be the butler for the scatterbrained Governor of a never-specified U.S. state, Eugene Gatling (James Noble), and his daughter Katie (Missy Gold). Governor Gatling was cousin to Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond), a character on Soap.

Benson's housekeeping dilemmas, his fights with the German secretary Gretchen Kraus (Inga Swenson), and his interactions with Clayton Endicott III (Rene Auberjonois), who assisted Governor Gatling as Secretary of State, made up the bulk of the stories each week. Perhaps the best remebered gag of the series is when Benson calls out 'Where are you, Kraus?' which gets the reply 'I'm on the phone!' uttered in tone and manner as if she were on the toilet.

Benson worked his way up the ladder during the series, going from butler to head of the governor's household staff, to state budget director, and eventually was elevated to the position of lieutenant governor. During the final episodes of the 1985-1986 season, Benson ran for governor against Gatling. At the end of the season finale episode, it was election night, and with the race still too close to call, Benson and Gatling, who had strained relations due to the race, made their peace with one another and sat down together to watch election returns on television. As the broadcaster began to announce that a winner in the election was at last being projected, the episode ended with that "Who won?" cliffhanger as the season ender. However, rather than renew the show for another season, ABC canceled the series, and thus the audience never found out who won.

External links

• Benson at IMDb
• Encyclopedia of Television
• [http://www.sitcomsonline.com/benson.html Sitcoms Online's Benson page