Benson (television)

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 Connecticut, James 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 cook Gretchen (Inga Swenson), and his interactions with the various staff who helped Governor Gatling in his day-to-day running of the state made up the bulk of the stories each week.

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. In the final episodes, Benson ran for governor against Gatling, and the two, who had strained relations due to the race, sat down at the end of the final episode to watch election returns. The show ended and the audience never found out who won.

External links

Internet Movie Database page for "Benson" (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0078569/)