7.8/1098 votes#1 - Change (Pilot)
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 9/13/1979
In the pilot of this spinoff series of Soap, Benson, the Butler of Jessica Tate helps out her cousin Gene Gatling, who is the Governor of the state. Benson's first escapade lands him into finding a way for a huge company to build their new bridge without killing beavers. His success in this idea seems to land him a ""trial offer"" for this new job.
Director: Jay Sandrich
Writer: Susan Harris
- 7.9/1069 votes
#2 - Trust Me
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 9/20/1979
Katie attends a controversial rock concert, even though her father forbid her to go and had Benson watch her. Now the question is, who will get home in time? The Governor or Katie? Benson, afraid Katie will not come home in time applies for another job in the meantime.
Director: Peter Baldwin
Writer: Lee Maddux
- 7.5/1062 votes
#3 - The President's Double
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 9/27/1979
Governor Gatling goes with African president Ukassi to a dinner. The African president becomes a victim of an assasination attempt and while his wounds get worse, Benson plays the part of the African president. The problem is that the assasins want that president dead and they have their desires on killing him not knowing that it's Benson.
Director: Jay Sandrich
Writer: N/A
- 7.3/1061 votes
#4 - Benson in Love
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 10/4/1979
Benson meets an attrative woman in the mansion and asks her out, not knowing she is a senator.
Director: Peter Baldwin
Writer: N/A
- 7.3/1049 votes
#5 - Conflict of Interest
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 10/18/1979
The Governor is faced with a family problem. Should he go see his daughter in her school play as he promised, or should he accept a very important political invitation that is scheduled for the same night? The Governor decides he has to attend the political meeting and Benson has to stand in.
Director: Jay Sandrich
Writer: Paul Wayne
- 8.0/1056 votes
#6 - The Layoff
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 10/25/1979
Benson is forced to lay off some staff members when the Governor makes a campaign to cut ""unecessary"" spending. Katie resents Benson when he has to fire the sweet woman who lightens up everyone's day.
Director: Peter Baldwin
Writer: N/A
- 7.7/1051 votes
#7 - Snowbound
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 11/1/1979
Governor Gatling wants the staff to join him on his little vacation to a snow cottage. Benson agrees when he learns that Kraus will not attend. Later Kraus changes her mind and Benson has to live with it. He has to live with it harder when the staff gets snowed in.
Director: Jay Sandrich
Writer: Susan Harris
- 7.7/1058 votes
#8 - Jessica
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 11/8/1979
Jessica Tate visits and she gets involved in a scandal. She falls in love with the French Baron who is visiting and all of a sudden he dies. It's now up to Benson and Jessica to try to fool a crowd of media that he is still alive and departing the Hotel he's staying at without them knowing and connecting Jessica with the death.
Director: Jay Sandrich
Writer: N/A
- 7.3/1046 votes
#9 - Don't Quote Me
Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 11/22/1979
A bad remark about a senator gets aired out and the staff is in trouble. They have to find who blabbed before more damaging information gets out.
Director: Peter Baldwin
Writer: N/A
- 7.4/1049 votes
#10 - War Stories
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 11/29/1979
Benson's old army buddy Eddie visits and him and Marcy hit it off after Benson introduces him to single Marcy. The problem is that Eddie is a married man and Benson didn't know that.
Director: Jay Sandrich
Writer: Michael Weinberger
- 7.2/1047 votes
#11 - Ghost Story
Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 12/6/1979
Very mysterious things happen in the Governor's mansion. Kraus panicks and says that the house is haunted. They have a seance and find out that the ghost was a goveror who was murdered a long time ago. The reason he is haunting the mansion is because the man who murdered that Governor was going to be honored by Gov. Gatling with a memorial street named after him.
Director: Tony Mordente
Writer: N/A
- 6.6/1052 votes
#12 - Taylor's Bid
Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 12/13/1979
Taylor quits being the advisor to Governor Gatling and decides to run for a public office. The Governor starts to need Taylor back when he can't manage his own political responsibilities.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.1/1049 votes
#13 - One Strike, You're Out
Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 12/27/1979
The domestic workers demand more money and Benson grants their requests to give them a raise. The blue-collar people go on strike after Governor Gatling refuses their plea. At the same time, very important people come to dinner and Benson has to do all the duties. He does all he can do, and with his smarts he turns it into a disaster so that they can get a taste of what it's like not to have them.
Director: Jay Sandrich
Writer: N/A
- 7.9/1053 votes
#14 - Just Friends
Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 1/3/1980
Governor Gatling is trying to get Howard Walker, the entrepreneur to settle his new factory in his constituency. Benson on his own tries not to let this go through because him and Howard's wife had a love affair years ago.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.3/1049 votes
#15 - Chain of Command
Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 1/10/1980
The Governor gets sick and has to stay in bed. Ed, his younger replacement takes advantage of the position and responsibilities of Governor too far. Ed tries to become the permanent replacement for the Governor. Benson catches this and tries to stop it.
Director: Asaad Kelada
Writer: N/A
- 7.2/1049 votes
#16 - Bugging the Governor
Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 1/24/1980
Somebody bugged the mansion and Benson tries to find out who by trapping them inside. It turned out that Taylor's lover, who was inside the mansion before, dispensed all equipment in the building.
Director: Asaad Kelada
Writer: Bernard Dilbert
- 6.9/1052 votes
#17 - Kraus Affair
Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 1/31/1980
Kraus falls for the Butcher, but she loses her self-confidence asking him out.
Director: Tony Mordente
Writer: N/A
- 7.3/1049 votes
#18 - Checkmate
Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 2/7/1980
An 11 year old Soviet is brought to the mansion for a professional chess tournament. While the boy is homesick and wanting to be out of the public's eye, he sees Katie who hides him in her room. All hell breaks loose when the Soviets can't find him and accuses the US staff of kidnapping him. The Soviets then threaten war if the boy is not returned.
Director: Tony Mordente
Writer: N/A
- 7.0/1040 votes
#19 - Cold Storage
Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 2/28/1980
Just before a very important banquet with guests, Benson and Kraus go in the old storage room to look for something and the door shuts on them. With minimal healthy air and a freezing temperature Benson and Kraus have to find themselves a way out. Benson risks it all when he starts a fire near an old heat duct and the mansion fills with smoke. That is the way the firemen tracked them.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.3/1046 votes
#20 - Old Man Gatlin'
Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 3/6/1980
The Governor's loudmouth father comes to visit and wreaks havoc among the staff. Benson then gets so fed up with the arrogance and the idea of the father breathing down his son's back that he traps him in the kitchen. Benson supervises him until the Governor's speech is over.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.3/1041 votes
#21 - Power Play
Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 3/20/1980
A load of dead fish and sludge is delivered to the Mansion by a conservationist.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.2/1059 votes
#22 - Takin' It to the Streets
Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 3/27/1980
Wanting to know how the ""little people"" really feel about politics and their real needs, Governor Gatling and Benson visit a mangy bar to talk to the constituents but land in trouble when a man picks a fight with Gatling at the bar, not knowing who he is.
Director: Tony Mordente
Writer: Wally Dalton, Shelley Zellman
- 7.5/1046 votes
#23 - The Army Wants You
Season 1 Episode 23 - Aired 5/1/1980
Benson, a war veteran suspicious when he is told to report for an ""evaluation."" It seems that on their record, Benson Dubois died in the Korean war, so treating Benson like some kind of a spy or something, the Fed's watch and follow his every move. Even the staff is trying to link spydom with his work habits.
Director: Tony Mordente
Writer: N/A
- 7.5/1039 votes
#24 - Marcy's Vacation
Season 1 Episode 24 - Aired 5/8/1980
Marcy is going on vacation and she gets worried that Lorraine, her replacement may do a better job than she does and get dismissed for good.
Director: Don Barnhart
Writer: Terry Grossman, Kathy Speer
The Best Episodes of Benson Season 1
Every episode of Benson Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Benson Season 1!
A butler deals with life at the governor's mansion.
Genre:Comedy
Network:ABC
Season 1 Ratings Summary
"Change (Pilot)" is the best rated episode of "Benson" season 1. It scored 7.8/10 based on 98 votes. Directed by Jay Sandrich and written by Susan Harris, it aired on 9/13/1979. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "Trust Me".