Bus Stop (TV series)

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
Composer(s)	Lionel Newman
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	26
Production
Executive producer(s)	Roy Huggins
Producer(s)	Robert Blees
Running time	60 mins.
Production company(s)	Belmont Television Company, Inc. in association with 20th Century-Fox Television
Release
Original network	ABC
Picture format	Black-and-white
Original release	October 1, 1961 – March 25, 1962

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.

Roy Huggins, the head of production at 20th Century Fox, created Bus Stop. Eight episodes were directed by Robert Altman. There were two Emmy Award nominations: (1) Richard L. Van Enger for "Outstanding Achievement in Film Editing for Television" and (2) Geraldine Brooks for "Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role" for the episode "Call Back Yesterday", which aired on December 10, with David Hedison as her fellow guest star.

The series was preceded by Inge's play and the 1956 film, Bus Stop, in which Marilyn Monroe and Don Murray had the lead roles. The sixth episode (telecast November 12) was the series pilot, "Cherie," the only episode directly based on Inge's play and movie. Tuesday Weld was cast in the title role of Cherie, an 18-year-old singer who hopes to be discovered in Hollywood, and 24-year-old Gary Lockwood portrayed Bo, a Montana rodeo cowboy who wants to marry her. Joseph Cotten also starred in the episode as Dr. Lyman. Lockwood appeared the same season as investigator Eric Jason in ABC's Follow the Sun and would star two years later as NBC's The Lieutenant. Weld had previously appeared as the materialistic teenager Thalia Menninger on CBS's The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis with Dwayne Hickman and Bob Denver.