Benson and the Little Giant was a podcast produced by BYOB Productions that ran from February 12, 2006 through July 28, 2008. Capitalizing on the reality show genre of the era, its format highlighted the lives and somewhat peculiar relationship of the show’s two protagonists, "Dakota Benson" and "JB, the Little Giant".
Contents
The show delved into such diverse topics as philosophy, politics, and popular culture as a vehicle for its comedic take on the lives of its main protagonists. Its central premise was the inherent comedy in the dichotomy between the lives of Benson - purportedly a morbidly obese, married and largely jovial philosopher – and JB, the Little Giant – a short, single, aspiring stoic somewhat jaded in his view of reality.
History
Though Benson and the Little Giant managed to develop a substantial cult following throughout its two-plus year run, the show was plagued throughout with inconsistent scheduling and erratic marketing. This failure to follow established entertainment protocols has been largely credited with impeding the show's audience growth and mainstream appeal.
Officially, the show was broadcast over three distinct seasons: (1) season one (podcasts no. 1-10), (2) season two (podcasts no. 11-20) and season three (podcasts no. 21-25). The show's initial episodes are generally regarded as the duo's best, with subsequent ones uninspired save a resurgence toward the end of the show's run. Aficionados, therefore, classify the show's history by three alternate categories: (1) the Golden Age (podcasts no. 1-9), (2) the Wilderness Era (podcasts no. 10-17) and (3) the Renaissance (podcasts no. 18-25).
Benson and the Little Giant debuted on February 12, 2006 with its inaugural episode to less than 200 listeners for the month of February 2006. In April of that year an aggressive marketing campaign utilizing the popular MySpace website and several viral videos helped increase listenership to nearly 3,000 per month, and by year's end those figures had increased to more 5,000 monthly listeners. The duo's listenership subsequently went into decline, falling to under 1,000 per month in mid-2007 and settling in at just double its inaugural audience by mid-2008.
Critical response
Syndication
Though no longer being actively produced, Benson and the Little Giant is syndicated by BYOB Productions and all episodes continue to be available for free on Apple, Inc.'s iTunes, as well as on various web-based podcast aggregators. The show's website continues to host back episodes, though the final two shows are not available there and the website is no longer being actively maintained.
Recurring Themes
Several themes have emerged from the Benson and the Little Giant series during its production. The show repeatedly emphasized the heterosexual nature of the relationship between its hosts, juxtaposed against frequent homoerotic content in their discourse. The two repeatedly stress that “they’re not gay” to offset the pronounced chemistry they display in their interactions.
The show’s content evolved using three primary devices. Development of the Little Giant character employed frequent use of the vignette (literature) technique, while the Benson character relied more on theater of the absurd as a recurring motif. Interaction between the two characters was heavily dependent on stream of consciousness writing as a technique for its content.
One of the earliest themes to emerge was the fictional premise that the Little Giant character was the son of one of the Statler Brothers, detailing offbeat and increasingly implausible scenarios. As the show progressed, JB's recurring infatuation toward a variety of unavailable women manifest itself, a purported outgrowth of his single status as contrasted with that of the married Benson. Content centered exclusively around the Benson character was more heavily weighted (no pun intended) toward less esoteric themes such as married life and experiences from day to day reality.