YMMV / Benson

• Crosses the Line Twice: Gene telling the story of how his wife died - she was eaten by horses while wearing a Sugar Plum Fairy costume made of real sugar.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In the three-part episode where Governor Gatling is running for reelection, the members of his party offer Benson the position of Lieutenant Governor if he betrays him. He refuses and Gatling wins. Years later, Benson becomes Lieutenant Governor through more honest means.
  • Pete's scene in some seasons' opening credits have him eating a sandwich and spilling some of it on Benson's newspaper. No wonder Neelix (see below) is so bad in the kitchen.
  • In the pilot, Katie jokes about Benson working with sad people; Missy Gold (Katie) as an adult became a psychologist.
  • One episode has Kraus go to the doctor and overhear a conversation which leads her to assume she's dying. After the confusion is cleared up, she admits she thought "Why me? Why me? Why not Benson?" A few years later, Benson would see a doctor and she would ask to tell him something serious which leads him to assume he's dying.
• Hollywood Homely: Kraus is constantly portrayed as unattractive, even outside of Benson's frequent barbs. However, dowdy clothes don't disguise that she's played by Ms. Inga◊ Swenson◊
• Not So Crazy Anymore: Season 6 episode 20, "Scenario", is about practicing for nuclear war - itself now a largely outdated theme. However, it features an early version of the Internet - albeit one still limited to military uses^note at the time, ARPANET was only starting to get expanded to universities and research institutes via NSFNet and so dial-up one actually had to dial the number and hang up in order to access the net - as a key point plot: they use it to simulate various scenarios.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Benson himself is Rafiki in The Lion King (1994).
  • Minor Season 2 character, Frankie the a delivery boy/unsuccessful comedian - played by a young Jerry Seinfeld.
  • Also, Clayton Endicott III is played by the same actor who portrayed Odo in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Lewiston in Boston Legal, and Chef Louis in The Little Mermaid (1989).
    • And Pete later played Neelix on Star Trek: Voyager.
  • Marcy's husband is played by Ted Danson.
  • Didi Conn (Denise Stevens) would later star in PBS' Shining Time Station.
  • Winifred Hervey wrote nine episodes. Hervey is best known as creator and executive producer of The Steve Harvey Show.
  • David Langston Smyrl wrote two episodes. Smyrl is best known for playing Mr. Handford on Sesame Street from 1990 to 1998.
  • Stu Silver wrote an episode. Silver is best known as creator and executive producer of Webster and for co-creating It's a Living.
  • Michael J. Weithorn also wrote an episode. Weithorn is best known as creator and executive producer of Ned & Stacey and co-creator and executive producer of The King of Queens.
• Values Resonance: Years before #MeToo, one episode depicts a woman being encouraged to name and shame her sexual harasser, which she eventually does.

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