Shark Bytes

I always liked this show too. it was pretty funny! I thought it was great how well they played off each other. (especially Benson and Krause- and the governor too!)

The barbs between Benson and Kraus were the highlights of the show. Robert Guillaume is a terrific actor. Those constant one-liners made "Benson" an excellent comedy.

I really enjoyed the Christmas show where Benson sang "O Holy Night." I thot the song sounded beautiful. I didn't know he had such a good voice.

Duh, how could I forget Auberjonois' Odo! I had forgotten about Ethan Phillips, but, dang, you're right. I don't think any Guillaume's co-stars was ever a regular on anything else, however.

Actually, at least two had regular roles in TV series besides Guillaume. Auberjonois became Constable Odo for seven years on Star Trek Deep Space Nine. And Ethan Phillps (Pete Downey) became Neelix for seven years on Star Trek Voyager.

Apart from Guillaume, I don't think any of them ever played another regular rolle on a television series. Maybe it was the 'Benson' Curse or something.

Does anyone know what ever happened to Lewis Stadlen and the girl who played Marcie? Did they ever do any other shows? I don't think I remember seeing them on anything else than Benson.

For that matter, I don't think I've ever seen the actor who played Gov. Gatling on anything else either.

Benson is one of my all-time favorite shows, and I could understand that his going from "head of household affairs" to Budget Director put the show in a new direction (and since that direction entailed skewering politics, that move helped extend the life of the series well past just a few seasons). I still watch for a number of reasons--Benson's one-liners (especially with Kraus), the Governor's boundless naivete, Clayton's pompousness and arrogance, and Katie (she looked delectable in her teen years).

Still, the beginning of the end came in 1984. Not only did Benson become Lieutenant Governor, but Kraus (who had been the housekeeper for the previous FOUR administrations, as per the very first episode) suddenly was qualified to be his aide? Too many of the later episodes took on the kind of outlandish plots that scream out "we're running out of ideas" as well.

Auberjonois was funny, but the Clayton character was stupid, and got stupider as the show went on. As did the show itself. Susan Harris and Co. did Guillaume and Co. no favor when they jumped the writing shark. Their stuff was pretty good; the later writing staff sucked rocks.

Yeah, but admit it--Renee Auberjonois was pretty darn funny, guys.

It's unanimous; Benson: Season One was the only real Benson. The other seasons were just body-snatched sitcom zombies who took over the actors playing the roles. Once Krauss got nice, they needed to take this show out to the back forty and put it out of its misery.

Absolutely, first-season Benson was the best. The characters were more just that--characters--not caricatures, which they later became. The writing looked like somebody actually gave a damn. I remember the ending in one first-season episode, where everyone's down in the mansion kitchen, and they started dancing, a nice, slow waltz. Benson breaks down and starts sweeping Krauss around the floor, Taylor coaxes Marcie into his arms, etc. All the characters who don't normally like one another get into it. The scene faded out on that. Very nice. I don't remember exactly which episode this scene was from, but it had a nice feel to it, like the actors were really relating to one another--a feeling I didn't get from later Bensons, where it became just raucous insult comedy 24/7.

The name of Lewis J. Stadlen's character was John Taylor. I agree that Taylor was a better character than Clayton Endicott who was simply silly, but by that point, it seemed like blatantly silly was what the Benson crew was aiming for.

Robert Guillaume is one of my favorite actors. I loved his earlier work on "Soap", and his later work on "Saved By The Bell: The College Years", but never really got into "Sportsnight". Anyway, "Benson" rocked. I just bought Season 1 on DVD a couple of days ago (Haven't watched it yet). I was just a kid (born in '79) when this originally aired, but I thought it was a great show. I loved the insults traded between Krause and Benson, but I didn't think the show really got rolling until Season 2 or 3, or whenever Clayton Endicott III was introduced. Now Benson had someone else to ridicule. So much fun! Just thinking about it, he did jump to Lt. Governor awful quick- but remember, it's fiction!
This is so coincidental I just had to bring it up: Looking for a current picture of Missy Gold on IMDB, I see that she was listed as playing a "Missy Appleton" on "Eight is Enough" in 1979. Her dad (Gov. Gatling)on "Benson" played the father of "Larry Appleton" on "Perfect Strangers". Could they possibly be brother and sister? (As I recall, there were 8 Appleton children).
Another question: Was Jerry Seinfeld in Season 1 as a delivery guy? I remember reading somewhere that he was on the show for somewhere between 1-3 episodes. I hope that TVLand brings it back, because my family and I loved watching the reruns. Classic!

'Benson' wasn't a completely godawful show, if only because Robert Guillaume was an actor with possibly some of the most superb comic timing of any one I've seen on tv. If the show could've grown past its initial sitcom silliness, and managed to give the lead characters a bit more depth, it might've ended up as a well-regarded series. One of the biggest problems for me (I guess this would count as the 'shark moment') came when the two co-stars ('Marcy', and Lewis Stadlen--whose character's name I can't for the life of me recall) left, or were ejected from the series. Both had the potential to create real characters who weren't just standard sitcom fodder; the vague subtext of romantic interest under their mutual bickering was nicely suggested. I thought the show lost a lot when they left. No dissing Rene Auberjonois, I think he's an awesome actor, and did the best he could with a one-dimensionally written character; occasionally he managed to transcend the so-so writing, and do some really funny stuff. Didi Conn was largely wasted--it was obvious she was never intended to be other than the stereotypical ditz, the only thing they left out was to make her a blonde. Inga Swenson should've been left abrasive--thattype of characterization always goes down the toilet once the writers cave in to the impulse to make them more 'viewer friendly'. James Noble's clueless Governor was often very funny as well, and again, given stronger writing, could've become a memorable character. The show ammassed too many wasted opportunitie, I think, and allowed itself to get bogged down in too many standard sitcom tropes. If the original 'Soap' creators had stayed in there as a creative force, instead of simply letting the show become one of those written-by-committee type of affairs, it probably would've been a funnier and stronger show.