How believable is it that he went from being a butler to being lieutenant governor? Is such a thing even remotely possible in real life? I guess it makes you really wonder just how smart the people are who are running things because even as a butler it was evident that Benson was miles ahead of his employers.

It would be interesting to see a show like this done now.

I think in 99.9% of real life situations, this would probably never happen, but remember that in Benson's very unique and rare case, he was working inside the Governor's mansion and got to work closely with (and become friends with) the Governor himself. And as many of us know, it's often not what you know but who you know that usually matters. He already had the inside track.

(Although in Benson's case, he was intelligent as well.) ;D