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 and widowed
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 housekeeper 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 remembered 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.
The premise was that initially Gatling was prohibited from running for re-election due to term limits. Later it was revealed that he could run again if he did so as an independent candidate, which he decided to do. By this time, Benson had already won the nomination of Gatling's party, setting the stage for the two to go head-to-head in the general election.
At the end of the series' final episode (7th season finale), 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 series ender.
Originally three endings had been shot involving either a Gatling win, a win by Benson, or a surprise win by a wildcard candidate in the form of a crooked senator, putting both of them out of a job. None of these endings proved satisfactory to anyone involved, so the decision was made to keep the show's ending unresolved.
In June 2006,
TV Land will start airing reruns of ''Benson'' starting with a weekend marathon on 6/3 and 6/4, and will air regularly on the lineup after that.
Info from Mortystv.com
