Benson (TV series)

Benson
Created by	Susan Harris[1]
Starring	Robert Guillaume James Noble Inga Swenson Missy Gold René Auberjonois (1980–1986) Ethan Phillips (1980–1985) Caroline McWilliams (1979–1981) Didi Conn (1981–1985) Lewis J. Stadlen (1979–1980) Billie Bird (1984–1986)
Theme music composer	George Tipton
Composer(s)	George Aliceson Tipton
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	158 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Paul Junger Witt Tony Thomas Susan Harris
Running time	24–25 minutes
Production company(s)	Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions
Distributor	Columbia Pictures Television (1984–1996) Columbia TriStar Television (1996–2002) Sony Pictures Television (2002–present)
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	September 13, 1979 (1979-09-13) – April 19, 1986 (1986-04-19)
Chronology
Preceded by	Soap

Benson is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from September 13, 1979 to April 19, 1986. The series is a spin-off of the soap opera parody Soap in which the character Benson, portrayed by Robert Guillaume, had first appeared as the wise-cracking yet level-headed African-American butler for the highly dysfunctional Tate family. However, Benson eschewed the soap opera format of its parent show for a more conventional/ traditional sitcom structure. The series was created by Susan Harris, and produced by Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions. In 1985, Guillaume won an Emmy award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role in the show.^[2]

Cast and characters

• Robert Guillaume as Benson DuBois, the main character, hired as head of household affairs for Governor Gatling and his daughter Katie. Quick-witted and quick thinking, Benson has helped the Governor on several issues, bailing him out of tight political and public situations.
• James Noble as Eugene X. Gatling, the widowed and scatterbrained (but well-meaning) governor. Gatling had a penchant for telling off-the-wall stories, which Benson (and everyone else in the household) dreaded.
• Missy Gold as Katie Gatling, the Governor's precocious pre-teen daughter.
• Inga Swenson as Gretchen Kraus, the Governor's chef. A fiercely proud German immigrant, she is often at odds with Benson and trading insults with him. A running gag in the series was whenever she would walk out of the room Benson, under his breath, would cast one last barb toward Kraus, to which she shouted from off-stage, "I He-e-e-ear You-u-u-u!". Despite their rivalry, Benson and Kraus become close friends. She later became Benson's strongest supporter when he ran for governor against Gatling.
• Lewis J. Stadlen as John Taylor, Governor Gatling's chief of staff (season 1 only).
• Caroline McWilliams as Marcy Hill, the Governor's personal secretary (seasons 1 and 2). Frequently unlucky in love, Marcy eventually married toward the end of season 2.
• Didi Conn as Denise Stevens, Marcy's replacement (seasons 3 through 6)
• Ethan Phillips as Pete Downey, Gatling's press secretary. (seasons 2 through 6)
• René Auberjonois as Clayton Endicott III; he replaced Taylor as Gatling's chief of staff beginning in season 2. Clayton is very snobbish and high-handed; he is also a hypochondriac.
• Billie Bird as Rose Cassidy; she becomes Gatling's chef when Kraus is promoted to Benson's old job as head of household affairs.

Episodes

The main character was Benson DuBois (Robert Guillaume), who was hired to be the head of household affairs for scatterbrained and widowed Governor Eugene X. Gatling (James Noble) and his daughter Katie (Missy Gold). Governor Gatling was a cousin of sisters Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond) and Mary Campbell (Cathryn Damon) from Soap. Although Soap was situated in Connecticut, the state of which Gatling was governor remained unidentified throughout the series.

The show revolved around Benson's housekeeping dilemmas, his squabbles with German cook Gretchen Wilhemina Kraus (Inga Swenson, one of Guillaume's fellow alumni from Soap) and his interactions with John Taylor (David Hedison in the pilot episode, then Lewis J. Stadlen), who assisted Governor Gatling as chief of staff. After the first season, Taylor's job was filled by the pompous Clayton Endicott III (René Auberjonois). In spite of their adversarial relationship (during the early years, Kraus' trademark line was a loud "I hear you!" from off-stage), Benson and Kraus eventually became good friends. Benson also had good friendships with the Governor's secretary, Marcy Hill (Caroline McWilliams) and her successor, Denise (Didi Conn). Marcy left after her second-season wedding. Jerry Seinfeld played a small role as Frankie, a delivery boy and unsuccessful comedian, for three episodes in 1980; he was asked to leave because of creative differences.^[3]

Denise and Pete Downey (Ethan Phillips), the governor's press secretary (introduced in Season 2), met and later married, having a child in the show's fifth season. However, both were written out, with the reason given that Denise secured a job with NASA.

Benson worked his way up the ladder during the series, going from head of household affairs to state budget director (at which time his surname, DuBois, was revealed), and eventually was elevated to the position of lieutenant governor. During the final episodes of the 1985–86 season, Benson ran for governor against Gatling. Kraus (who had herself moved up to head of household affairs) proved to be Benson's strongest supporter, and he made her his personal assistant and campaign manager.

Series finale

The term-limited Governor Gatling ran for reelection as an independent candidate, with Benson securing the party nomination, setting the stage for the two to go head-to-head in the general election.

At the end of the series' final episode, Benson and Gatling, who had strained relations due to the race, made peace with each other and watched the tight election returns together on television. As the broadcaster began to announce that a winner was at last being projected, the episode ended on a freeze frame of Benson and Gatling, leaving the series with an unresolved cliffhanger. Coincidentally, Guillaume's previous series, and the one from which Benson spun off, Soap, was also canceled with unresolved cliffhangers, though Guillaume had moved on to Benson by that point.

In 2007, Benson showrunner Bob Fraser said that the season ended on a cliffhanger at the request of the network. The show was canceled after the cliffhanger had aired. Fraser indicated that, had the show continued, Gatling would have won the election and Benson would have become a senator.^[4]

According to Gary Brown, who directed the finale and 20 other episodes of Benson, three outcomes were filmed, with Benson winning, Gatling winning and a tie. The intent was to decide over summer break which outcome to use. Brown also stated that, regardless of the outcome, the long-term intent for the next season was for Benson to become the governor.^[5]

Broadcast history

DVD releases

On July 24, 2007, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released Season 1 of Benson on DVD in Region 1 for the first time. The DVD's contain the episodes as they originally aired, including the longer opening sequence, which was significantly edited for syndication.

On April 3, 2012, Sony released season 2 on DVD under the Choice Collection label. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release. The Complete Second Season DVD also includes two episodes from season three: "Benson's Appointment" and "The Grass Ain't Greener." Like the DVD of the previous season, this season DVD also contains the originally-aired uncut openings for each episode.

On August 27, 2013, it was announced that Mill Creek Entertainment had acquired the rights to various television series from the Sony Pictures library including Benson.^[6] They re-released the first and second seasons on DVD on September 2, 2014.^[7]

Setting

The exterior shots of the "governor's mansion" are actually of a private home located at 1365 South Oakland Avenue in Pasadena, California.^[8] The same house was seen in the 1993 movie The Beverly Hillbillies, in a 2006 U.S. television commercial for the RE/MAX real estate company, and the Columbo episode "Etude in Black".

The home has some Palladian and Neoclassical features.

References

External links

• Benson at the Internet Movie Database
• Benson at TV.com
• Sitcoms Online's Benson page
• Encyclopedia of Television