Coinky-dinkies

Sometimes you see connections and you wonder if they're coincidental or intentional.

Two I've noticed lately, followed by the chances it's a coincidence:

In Bee Movie (opening today at a theatre near you), the lead character, voiced by Jerry Seinfeld, is named Barry B. Benson. Obviously the B's are no coincidence. But what about that last name, Benson? Back in 1980, Jerry played a recurring character (until he was fired unceremoniously) in the sitcom Benson. It was his first major professional role.

Odds it's a coincidence (1 is pure coincidence, 10 is completely intentional): 9.

I was watching the movie adaptation of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying recently. It's a tricky show to revive, since its sexual politics take place in the era when the show opened on Broadway, 1961. It occurred to me this is the same milieu that Mad Men is trying to recapture (though How To Succeed had a satirical, cartoonish slant). Then it hit me that Robert Morse, the star of the musical (on Broadway and onscreen) has a featured role in Mad Men.

Are the producers trying to harken back to that era?

Odds it's a coincidence: 4

November 6 Update: I've since since Seinfeld on Charlie Rose, and he said the name came from Benson, so we can move that 9 up to a 10.