BENSON: LAST MAN ON EARTH (TV)
Summary
One in this comedy series about Benson DuBois, who manages the chaotic household of the state's honest yet inept governor. In this episode, everyone – apart from Benson – is excited about the approach of Halley's Comet, wondering if it could possibly have a catastrophic effect on the planet. Clayton dismisses their "sophomoric Hollywood theatrics," and Kraus soon ventures into the basement in search of a telescope for Katie's use at school. She soon falls asleep and enters a dream in which she is joined by Benson right before the comet arrives, and when they return upstairs, they find that everyone in the house – and in fact everyone else in the world – has been vaporized, leaving them "marooned" on Earth together. Seven long years pass and Benson, voted in as governor by "the people," grows ever more annoyed with his "wife," though Kraus is delighted with their extravagant lives as rulers of the planet with their two daughters, Beth and Mary.
Thirteen more years pass and Benson is now the "emperor," though Kraus suddenly takes ill. They receive word from their adult daughters, who are exploring the globe, that they have finally found other living human beings, but Kraus takes a turn for the worse and Benson finally admits his passionate love for her before she dies. Kraus then awakens in the basement and tells Benson all about her elaborate dream, which he declares to be "sick and twisted." Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: 9:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:23:45
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:14928
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy; African-American Collection - Comedy
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1979-1986
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Paul Junger Witt … Executive Producer
- Tony Thomas … Executive Producer
- Bob Fraser … Producer
- Rob Dames … Producer
- Ron Landry … Co-Producer, Writer
- Tom Biener … Co-Producer, Writer
- Greg Giangregorio … Associate Producer
- Gary Brown … Director
- Susan Harris … Created by
- George Aliceson Tipton … Music by
- Robert Guillaume … Cast, Benson DuBois
- James Noble … Cast, Governor Eugene Xavier Gatling
- Inga Swenson … Cast, Gretchen Wilomena Kraus
- Missy Gold … Cast, Katherine 'Katie' Olivia Gatling
- Rene Auberjonois … Cast, Clayton Runnymede Endicott III
- Billie Bird … Cast, Rose Cassidy
- Brandon Adams … Cast, Phil
- Elizabeth Fraser … Cast, Beth
- Melissa Hill Guillaume … Cast, Mary
- Matthew Waterson … Cast, Don