"Bus Stop" marked only the second appearance of Steve Landesberg as Det. Arthur Dietrich, first introduced in "Fish," being groomed to permanently replace Abe Vigoda's Fish by the fourth season. A very low key personality, Dietrich seems to possess knowledge about subjects that no one else in the precinct does, which proves very useful at times, while his know-it-all attitude often clashes with Harris (enabling the series to continue in Vigoda's absence). Here, he's unusually apologetic, temporarily filling in for the ailing Fish, who is supposed to have an operation but comes to work anyway rather than go home to his wife ("at a time like this, I should be among friends!"). Dietrich admits he became a cop after studying medicine for nine months! A crosstown bus gets hijacked, with a slew of passengers refusing to testify because they don't want to get involved. Joe George (one other appearance) is the harried bus driver, Florence Halop (second of six) is the passenger taking a shine to Wojo, Sal Viscuso (first of four), soon to star on SOAP, plays the laughing hijacker. Philip Bruns (first of four) is the married passenger, having an affair with Miss Lambert (Candice Azzara, second of three), which explains his reasoning for shirking his civic duty (she admits it would have been nice to see him in the daytime). The most curious addition is Howard Honig (second of five), who keeps rubbing his neck but claims to be the only one not robbed (Barney rightly suspects insurance fraud). It all begins with Yemana's instructions on how to locate the station: "you'll recognize it by the blue and white cars out front...and the expired meters...and no tickets on the windshields!"
Review of Bus Stop
