Bates Motel

[Troy]

A&E's "Bates Motel" is a ten-episode prequel to "Psycho" moved up to the present day and executive produced by "Lost" showrunner Carlton Cuse. Freddie Highmore plays teenaged Norman Bates, while Vera Farmiga is his mother Norma, alive and well pre-mummification, as the two move to a small coastal town and purchase, what do you know, a motel.

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This is a really interesting concept. I am a big fan of Psycho so I am worried that they will fail miserably to live up to the standards set by that movie but I like the changes they have made to the setting. If they tried to set it in the same time as Psycho I feel that it would have made it impossible for them to produce anything good because it will be compared directly to the movie. By moving it to modern times and starting it from when he is a teenager and they purchase the motel it is a nice starting point to build the characters from. One other thing that has me a bit worried though is the fact that A&E are producing it, have they ever done a scripted drama series before all I know them for is reality shows.

Anyone else interested in this?

 

[ThatGuyFromNukemHigh]

A&E does Longmire, which is one show I started watching and had to sit & watch every episode.

Anyways, as you have said the concept is actually very good, and this could work as the start of downward spiral of Norman Bates. I will give the first episode a chance, depending on the time slot the show is given due to having about a dozen shows I already watch returning.

 

[Keith]

As long as they are going to do something different with the format than I might give this a go.

 

[Troy]

Debuts this week in the US, interested in reading some reviews once it is out and I hope that it manages to make it to Australia rather than me having to chase the show down. I hope it can live up to expectations and I think that they can make the concept work.

 

[Chris]

I have this set to record, but my expectations aren't high.

 

[Troy]

[YOUTUBE]Nkn5aEadrX4[/YOUTUBE]

I like what I am seeing, need to keep it quite dark though and the music score is going to be very important for the series.

 

[Keith]

Could go either way, the cast are very strong and it seems to have a good visual style, will be interesting to see what direction they take it storyline wise.

 

[Troy]

It had a strong debut in the US with 3 million viewers and good reviews. Thankfully it has been picked up in Australia by Fox8 and will air starting May 26.

Did anyone watch the premiere?

 

[Kiffy Lube]

I plan on checking this out sooner or later. I'll probably wait until the entire series airs and just watch it all at once.

 

[NotReallyaGoodUN]

Hmm, I thought this was going to be pretty bad, but almost all the reviews seem to point in the positive direction.

Maybe I'll add this to my American Horror Story/Walking Dead diet. Maybe.

 

[Troy]

Just finished watching the first episode and I am hooked. Freddie Highmore plays the role to perfection, he has a few of the mannerisms that we see from a grown up Norman Bates in Psycho and he translates well as a young Norman Bates. Pretty full on episode with plenty happening, aside from them arriving at the Motel and the end of that episode has me wanting more. I want to see what happens next but I will have to wait a week. Nice to have another drama to watch.

 

[ThatGuyFromNukemHigh]

My only issue with this show, is that everytime I see Highmore I cant help but see a young Michael C. Hall. It just throws me off, when I know its supposed to be Norman, but all I can see is Dexter.

 

[John McHenry]

I'm on episode 9 and i've lost a lot of interest pacing is too slow.

 

[Troy]

My only issue with this show, is that everytime I see Highmore I cant help but see a young Michael C. Hall. It just throws me off, when I know its supposed to be Norman, but all I can see is Dexter.

It seems like he could turn into a similar type of character. I think that he is a little more open than Dexter and a lot more fidgety which matches so well with Anthony Perkins portrayal of Norman.

I'm on episode 9 and i've lost a lot of interest pacing is too slow.

Shame. I will stick it out and see how it develops. I hoped that with such a short season that they would be able to structure and pace the show well.

 

[Troy]

Three episodes in and I am starting to see more of the strangeness of the town. With the way that justice is served, the way that the town created it's wealth, the secret in the basement. I really like how Norman's character progressed so far, we have seen some of his violence and then the interesting fact that he doesn't remember it, he manages to wipe that from his memory. Then we see the hallucinations at the end of episode three where he is taking orders from his mum even though she isn't there. I hope that they can drag this show out for as long as possible as it has been really good so far.

The creator talked about wanting to make the 70 episodes that Twin peaks are missing and that would be fine by me if they can do that.