Benson Boned the Fish When... [Archive] - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC

02-27-2014, 04:54 PM

https://web.archive.org/web/20070225141752/http://jumptheshark.com/

Other Thoughts:

When they took him to Swensens
How about a category for actors playing themselves (Inga Swensen as Inga Swensen)?
I thought this show never jumped. It stayed consistently funny especially when it came to the art of politics and bureaucracy. Another big plus was Benson and Miss Kraus being at each other's throats trading insults even though they frequently ended with Kraus exclaiming off stage, "I hear you!" It took brilliant writing to come up with insults and barbs aimed at politics and bureaucracy especially on the part of Clayton Endicott III. Overall, this will be found on my Top 25 Sitcoms list whenever I get around to compiling it.
Another mediocre sitcom from the famine years (late 70's/early 80's). Anyone looking for genuinely witty politically-oriented humor should check out the brilliant BBC series "Yes, Minister" (and its even funnier follow-up "Yes, Prime Minister").
It wasn't Benson becoming Lieutenant Govenor that killed the show, but by that time the writers were rehashing old stuff and the show was losing its steam, so that's a good marker. Also when Benson and Inga slowly became friends, a lot of the comic conflict potential was toast. Rene Aberjenois (sp?) though. Hard to believe the badguy from Benson is now Odo in Deep Space Nine, huh?
This show fits the "jump the shark" analogy completely. The promotion to the state budget director (from the house manager and nanny!) was when Benson started to transform from the smart-aleck behind-the-scenes guy to just being superior with a position of power. The further promotion to Lt. Gov. clinched it: the character became so insufferable that two of his co-stars had to leave the solar system to appear on Star Trek :)
This show jumped the shark when Benson ran for public office and won.Come on,I just can't believe this butler did it.
It jumped when the President's daughter grew up. She was actually pretty good as a little girl. As a teenager...forget it. Also, the show was showing it's age after the first 2 or 3 good years. The Swedish maids' refrain "I heard that!" was funny at first, but continuously?
The show jumped the shark when Benson became Lieutenant Governor and Pete and Denise left.
Show never jumped. Robert Guillaume did a superb job bringing out the comedy in the rest of the cast. Great 80's show.
When Benson went from being the manager of the governor's mansion to the lieutenant governor. This guy was cleaning toilets for the Tate's on "Soap" and now he's the second most powerful political figure in California? Nice try.
Has anyone ever noticed that the governor from Benson looks EXACTLY like Oliver North? Maybe you could say they were separated at birth, but have you ever seen them together?
it never jumped. It was a hilarious show. Marcy was so funny on it, that's how i got my name by the way, but its a very good show and i wish it had stayed on longer.
Katherine Helmond made "a very special..." "special guest star" appearance as the ghost of Jessica Tate (from Soap)--- that clinched it for me.
No one mentioned the opening of season six (1984-85) when they went on that trip to Hong Kong. Clayton was kidnapped (I think by that lady from It's a Living, Nancy Beebe, whomever) as part of some spy/terrorist plot. It was shot on location, partially with hand held cameras. Nice scenery, but I true shark alert if there ever was one. Still remember one scene when they are eating in a restaurant, the lady comes on the PA and pages Benson -- "Benfog- Doophah"... An expensive waste of time ....
I used to love the show Benson. I thought all the cast were talented. I thought the show was wonderfully written, but then Benson becomes the Lt. Governor and show becomes unbelievable.
There was one episode where a robot was going to replace Benson, and as the episode progressed, the robot was going to replace the governor as well. It had to THE DUMBEST sitcom episode I have ever watched. It was absolutely pathetic, hokey, and embarrassing.
The episode when they were down in the mansion basement faking a nuclear attack. There was hardly a laugh the whole episode.
The episode (I believe it involved some location shooting) where Benson was hypnotized by a Vegas-style hypnotist, and then told to sing. The was a weak excuse to fill several minutes of the 30-minute episode with Robert Guillaume singing. I assume this was to avoid having to write several minutes of plot.
I thought the ending (last show) left us all hanging - for a final show it was ok but we did really want to know who won the race for Gov out of Benson and the existing governor. He turned on the Governor in the end which is pretty typical of politicians. Great show though - Benson's sarcastic wit was unsurpassed in the 80s.
Wasn't there a Halloween episode where Benson has a battle (of wits!) with a man who's supposed to be The Devil?
This was a lame show. I mean, bland, baby. Wonder Bread weak. And it died horrifically when they got the ugly broad from "Grease" and the ugly dude from that Star Trek show to become the love interest theme thing thigamajig. Missy Gold was almost invisible, that's how lame she was. The only thing that can save this show is if Gary Colemen (who at the time co-starred with Bobby Guillaume on some nifty-sweet NBC movies) showed up as Missy Gold's love interest. He dooked that girl in the wheelchair, remember? On "Diff'rent Strokes"? Yeah, anyway, it also jumped when Clayton shoved little Earl up his ass. Oh yeah, my god buddy Darryl said to me once that the snaps between Benson and Kraus were good. Come to think of it, some of the snaps were the baddest, coldest, funniest **** I ever heard on T.V. That is enough to save this show.
that show lost a lot of luster when Benson left he was hysterical especially if the episode when he had Chester of grandfather John Byner and himself dressed as black guys
The nuclear attack episode. I turned off the show for good when Katie Gold turned to Benson and said, "I just want to go outside for awhile."
Pristine and primo example of a shark jump when Benson became the lieutenant governor. Yeah, right. To get anywhere in politics you need money, connections, a whole network. You don't just go from wage slavery to the halls of power, even if you're already cleaning the halls. I concur with the comment that the show worked when he was a wise-cracking, smart alecky foil to the governor. The potential plots which could come through a governor's mansion are as wide ranging as civilization itself. Couldn't they have gotten some writers who could *work* with the winning formula and come up with more great shows instead of screwing up everything? I suggest a cartoon episode of Benson where the people who screwed up this show are given a position of power in the governor's mansion, then impeached and appropriately punished for wrongdoing. Appropriate punishment would be imprisonment with the stupid robot as a cellmate, though with a little bit of new programming, heh heh. Oh, and the final episode with the governor's race MUST be resolved, also. What kind of bull**** was that? It was like the show punishing the audience for letting it fail, like the *audience* was to blame! Boo. Booooooo--!
When Benson gets elected Lt. Governor and they give Clayton his old job (and give him a _real_ job!) it kind of lost its oomph. You didn't see guest spots after that, either. Looking back at the reruns I realize how well-cast James Noble was as the Governor. My favorite lines have to be (during a snowstorm): Benson: Why don't we call out the National Guard [for snowplowing]?Governor: We can't. I sent them to New Mexico for desert training. Clayton: Desert training? There's no desert around here! Governor: I know, that's why I sent them to New Mexico
This show was truly horrid. A spin-off from a worse show, "Soap". The beauty of this show is how it showcased the wilderness years of how God awful television was in the early 80's. Was the governor and his daughter really Jimmy Carter and Amy? Would Carter have been re-elected if Benson worked at the White House? The only missing piece is Rosiland, no wonder they made him a widower in the show.
Never jumped. This was a very good 80s sitcom with the great Robert Guillaume as the butler for the governor of some state. the cast was excellent all around, every character was well done, especially Krause and Clayton. I liked the Governor too. Benson (Guillaume) was very quick witted and always had a smartassed comment to make. He had a great way of making everyone else around him seem stupid, yet always in a funny way, never overly mean. Guillaume is my favorite black TV actor from that period, better than Helmsley, Redd Foxx, Cosby or any other sitcom actor of the time. He proved this with his return on Sports Night - Bobby can still lead a show. He commands respect. Anyway, a charming show that should have a slot on Nick at Nite instead 4 hours of Cosby every nite. Benson gets a "B".
This was a funny show that lasted a long time, but it seems like all the writers just stopped caring about the material they were putting out in the final season. Ratings-wise, things tanked because they moved it up against Dallas (in other words, they obviously wanted to the kill show off - and that's how they accomplished that - you don't put a sitcom against a powerhouse like that - dumb move). Anyway, I was always a fan of this show but thought the final season (for the most part) was... just... lame. Oh well, it was still a nice run. Oh, and seeing it was pretty damn obvious the show was going to get canned, couldn't they have aired ANY other ending in the final episode (they shot 4 different versions) OTHER than the cliffhanger? Damn it...
I loved this show. Robert Guilliame and Inga Swenson played off each other continuously, and some of Benson's remarks, usually uttered under his breath, were absolutely hilarious. (Miss Krauss: "I did not come here to be insulted!" Benson: "Where do you usually go?") The governor was a ditz, Katie was adorable, and some of the workers that wandered around the mansion were memorable. But Benson and Miss Krauss kept the show far from the shark.
"Benson" was another show spawned in the dismal cesspool of television in the early 80's, it's up there with all the other forgettables like "Hello, Larry", "It's a Living", "Animals are People Too", "Love, Sidney", et cetera. But this particular show jumped immediately. Let's take a bumbling governor (uhmmmm, a Jimmy Carter-like fella), make him a widower (no one cared much for ice queen Rosalyn anyway), get an Amy Carter clone and away we go! Thank God there's a butler at the mansion who can always save the day, no matter what the shenanigans are. We'll throw in Eva Braun to spice things up. It makes us almost long that the nuclear bomb episode wasn't a drill! Horrible horrible tv but that was what every show was like in the early 1980's. "Benson" just happened to be even worse which is almost a credit, it's one of the ones we can remember because it was so bad.
"Benson" was created by Susan Harris, who also created "The Golden Girls." There is little doubt watching the two programs that Gene Gatling was the inspiration for Rose Nylund, clearly his female counterpart.
Benson has got to be one of the strangest sitcoms in the history of television, considering that the shows creators came up with a great premise, and then just completely abandoned it after only a few seasons. Initially, Benson was intended to more or less play the same character he did on Soap. The only change really was the environment and the target of scorn. Politics seemed to be a great foil for Benson's wit and sarcasm, and quite inventive for a spin-off. Considering he was a butler, I'm amazed they didn't stick the character in a hotel. Benson was supposed to be the wise-cracking hired help, and the spin-control world of politics his never-ending object of disaffection. In the few seasons they actually stuck to this premise, the writing was fairly decent, and only lacking in the sardonic humor it required. Still, many shows in that day started out a little weak and then built over time. If they had stuck to the premise, if they had honored the "sit" in their "com", maybe it would have worked. Instead, Benson is re-invented, the characters become tired & cliched, and the writing just gets downright weird. What followed was an unfortunate 7 or 8 years of wasted opportunities.
BENSON JUMPED WHEN HALF THE CAST LEFT THE SHOW. AROUND THAT TIME INGA SWENSON CHANGED HER LOOK AND KRAUS BECAME BENSON'S FRIEND. NO MORE ANIMOSITY NO MORE SHOW.
I don't really think this show jumped the shark, although I do think the later seasons (especially the last) were a little "out there" at times. This show managed to stay pretty good despite a few character changes, and in between some questionable episodes were always some really good ones. Yes, there were some hokey episodes (robot, nuclear drill, the Haley's comet episode, etc) but most tv shows have these type of eps, if you think about it (do you really think Sam Malone was talking to Elvis on "Cheers"?!). Overall, a good show and still some great laughs. Much better than 90% of the tripe that came out in the 80s. No reason why it shouldn't be on DVD by now.
I've never said this on this site, but now it's time: here's a show that jumped from the get go....It just wasn't funny....it wasn't anything...It had potential for funny: the governor's dim-wit personality, Krause's little spats with Benson...but there was just this overwhelming dryness about the whole thing...you could see the "push" to get us to laugh and that alone makes it boring...the conversational jokes were so obviously set up that they failed..for instance(and this is not a direct quote)..Benson might say about an item "Krause where should I stick this" and the joke was over before Krause even responded....in real life someone like Benson would be wayyyy to smart to even say something like that knowing the kind of response he'd get....the plots were enough to keep you watching, it just lacked a certain glue that makes sit coms be sit coms...too much "sit" , not enough "com"