Bus Stop is a 26-episode American drama which aired on ABC from October 1, 1961, until March 25, 1962, starring Marilyn Maxwell as Grace Sherwood, the owner of a bus station and diner in the fictitious town of Sunrise in the Colorado Rockies. The program was adapted from William Inge's play, Bus Stop, and Inge was a script consultant for the series, which followed the lives of travelers passing through the bus station and the diner. Maxwell's co-stars were Richard Anderson as District Attorney Glenn Wagner, Rhodes Reason as Sheriff Will Mayberry, Joan Freeman as waitress Elma Gahrigner, Bernard Kates as Ralph the coroner, and Buddy Ebsen as Virge Blessing.^{[citation needed]} Increasingly, as it became difficult to have guest stars be characters arriving by bus every week, the stories became more about people in the town which left little for Maxwell's character to do and led to her leaving the series after 13 episodes. She said, "There was nothing for me to do but pour a second cup of coffee and point the way to the men's room."^[1]

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Quick Facts Bus Stop, Genre ...

Bus Stop
Marilyn Maxwell, Tuesday Weld and Gary Lockwood in "Cherie" (1961)
Genre	Drama
Created by	Roy Huggins (based on William Inge's play, Bus Stop)
Directed by	Robert Altman (selected episodes)
Starring	Marilyn Maxwell Richard Anderson Rhodes Reason Joan Freeman Buddy Ebsen
Theme music composer	Arthur Morton
Composers	Arthur Morton Lionel Newman Jeff Alexander
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	26
Production
Executive producers	William Self Roy Huggins
Producers	Robert Blees John Newland (final episode)
Running time	60 minutes
Production companies	Belmont Television Company, Inc. Palomino Productions, Inc. (final episode), in association with 20th Century-Fox Television
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	October 1, 1961 (1961-10-01) – March 25, 1962 (1962-03-25)

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The episode "A Lion Walks Among Us", with guest star Fabian Forte and directed by Robert Altman, was highly controversial because of its depiction of violence. Twenty-five ABC affiliates refused to air the program.^[2] It attracted negative comment from politicians in Washington. The episode was shown to a Congressional Committee discussing violence on TV.