Benson Season 1 (Robert Guillaume 1979-1986) TV comedy

Typical BENSON Episode

Video Codec..........: XviD ISO MPEG-4
Video Bitrate........: 909kbps
Duration.............: 25:11.692
Resolution...........: 600*458
Framerate............: 29.970
Audio Codec..........: 0x2000 (Dolby AC3) AC3
Audio Bitrate........: 192 kbps CBR
Audio Channels.......: 2
Subtitles............: None


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078569/


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benson_%28TV_series%29


http://bayimg.com/EaoOFAACF

**NOTE** - As of the time of this upload, season 1 is the only commercially available season.


Benson is an American television sitcom which aired from September 13, 1979 to April 19, 1986 on ABC. The series was a spin-off from the soap opera parody Soap. The title character, portrayed by Robert Guillaume, originally appeared on Soap as the wise-cracking yet level-headed black butler for the highly dysfunctional Tate family.


Series summary

In the show, Benson DuBois had been hired to be the head of household affairs for scatterbrained and widowed Governor Eugene Gatling (James Noble), and his daughter Katie (Missy Gold). Governor Gatling was cousin to Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond) and Mary Campbell (Cathryn Damon), the two sisters on whose families the stories centered on Soap. The state of which Gatling was governor remained unidentified throughout the series, although Soap had taken place in Connecticut. The outside shots of the governor's mansion reveal a few palm trees on the property. Accordingly, that would limit the states in which Gatling was governor to the Gulf coast, south Atlantic coast or south Pacific coast states.

In spite of his somewhat off center personality, Governor Gatling proved to be a very capable and commanding figure when a crisis arose.

The show revolved around Benson's housekeeping dilemmas, his fights with the German cook Gretchen Kraus (Inga Swenson-one of Guillaume's fellow alumni from Soap), and his interactions with Clayton Endicott III (Rene Auberjonois), who assisted Governor Gatling as chief of staff. In the first season, Clayton's job was filled by John Taylor (Lewis J. Stadlen), who was written out by having him run for political office and actually snub his employer's endorsement. In spite of their adversarial relationship (during the early years, Kraus' trademark line was a loud "I hear you!"), Benson and Kraus eventually became good friends. Benson also had very good friendships with the Governor's secretary, Marcy Hill (Caroline McWilliams), and her successor, Denise (Didi Conn). Marcy left after the second season after getting married. Denise and Pete Downey (Ethan Phillips) met and later married on while working in the governor's mansion, and were expectant parents for most of the second-to-last season. Both were written out, saying they left government service to raise their son.

Benson worked his way up the ladder during the series, going from head of household affairs, to state budget director (at which time his surnameΓΓé¼ΓÇ¥DuBoisΓΓé¼ΓÇ¥was revealed), 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. Kraus (who had herself moved up to head of household affairs, then state budget director) proved to be Benson's biggest supporter during this time as well. So much so, that he made her his personal assistant and campaign manager.

Benson has the distinction of being the first TV series to reference the Internet on an American network television.[citation needed] This occurred on the episode airing February 22, 1985 ("Scenario") - in the episode, they were accessing the ARPANET, the progenitor of the Internet.

Benson also had the dubious distinction of firing a young, then-unknown comedian named Jerry Seinfeld, who performed as Frankie for all three episodes during the 1980 season.