DJariya

Synopsis:

Norma Bates buys a motel on the outskirts of an idyllic coastal town seeking a fresh start with her young son Norman.

Based on the characters from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

Executive Producer/Showrunner is Carlton Cuse from Lost. A&E ordered this straight to series without shooting a Pilot.

Since A&E is mostly known for Reality shows, it has a good lead-in with the season premiere of Storage Wars.


10 episodes ordered


This is not a direct prequel to Psycho. It's a contemporary re-telling of the story based on Psycho.

Featurette:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fzcqsg4r9OE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


BTW, my Directv guide says this is 55 minutes. I assume it's limited commercials.

starseed1981

I'm pretty psyched for this actually. The advance reviews seemed good as well.

meritocracy

I caught it onDemand over the weekend and enjoyed it. Vera Farmiga's excellent in this.

I'm likely in for the season.

windom

Will this make any sense if I've never seen Psycho? Or should I watch the original movie first?

Guru Askew

Considering that the show will almost inevitably be inferior to the film (even if its very good) and it will almost inevitably spoil the film it would probably be wise to check out the film first.

JeffTheAlpaca

I am debating if I should watch this or Touch tonight or if it rains then Bates Motel.

dex14

I really don't like Freddie Highmore.

DJariya

I don't think you need to watch the original Psycho to watch this series. The only thing they have in common are the character names. This is a modern day re-imagining of the story/characters. You're for all intents and purposes being introduced to Norma and Norman for the 1st time here.

Timber

I was looking forward to this but the kid that plays Norman was on Fallon last week and they played a small snippet and it completely turned me off.

I'm not one to turn my nose up at CW type shows but...

whotony

Where is that bus stop?

Nothing like having a bunch of hot girls show up, sit on your lap and give you a phone number.

writer106

I just watched the pilot and I liked it. The setup for the main storyline was a bit shocking. So far many of the TV critics like it.

Fist of Doom

I thought it was pretty good. My expectations were fairly low, though. We'll see if they can keep this compelling.

Geofferson

Yeah, no joke. Thought this first episode was decent. Will tune in next week.

DRG

I really like that they didn't take the obvious route with some of their choices. I was expecting Norman to be an immediate outcast at school and be bullied right off the bat. I'm glad they went a different way there. And Norma was handled much more subtly than I had expected. There were hints, glimpses into how it will eventually all go wrong, but she felt like a real person and I believed their relationship. I already like this take better than the back story from Psycho 4. Hopefully the show can maintain this level over several episodes.

Guru Askew

"First episode" and "pilot" aren't interchangeable. This show had no pilot, it went straight to series with a 10-episode order. The first episode is complete with a title sequence, it has all the same people working on it and it wasn't made a year before episodes 2-10. Next week you aren't gonna see that they dropped characters and added characters and gained/lost weight and got new hairstyles and you're not gonna notice something is "off" because they're filming on new sets and new locations with a new DP. Because tonight's episode wasn't a pilot.

JeffTheAlpaca

He is British and did Finding Neverland so I assume he is better than your average CW stiff.

I hope this show is a hit. I like it so far though hope they don't show too many scenes with the teenagers and more of Norman and his mom.

They had Radiohead and Rolling Stones songs in the pilot and hope that does not delay the dvd release.

Dragon Tattoo

This isn't the 70s. They clear that stuff before shows even air now.

dex14

movieking

Had no idea Vera Farmiga was in this. I recorded it so I'll check it out.

writer106

I also liked that too. But I still get the feeling that the writers will eventually do a bullying storyline involving Norman. I also get the feeling that one of those girls will end up causing trouble with Norma.

JeffTheAlpaca

In the end it looked like somebody was injecting themselves or somebody else injecting a needle into somebody?

Hard to tell since it was dark.

I wish they could bring back the old Bernard Herrmann score or maybe retool it for the opening credits.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qMTrVgpDwPk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

She was the main female lead in Up in the Air and in the Departed.

Geofferson

My guess is Norma may have taken someone captive from the highway planning committee. She hinted at something suspicious in the prior scene while talking to Norman on the window sill.

onebyone

I thought it was pretty good, and really well acted. I was suspicious about this, but I will be tuning in for the season.

writer106

Good theory there.

joefrog91

Don't think so. The book Norman found under the carpet showed something similar. And the drunk guy said he knew everyone's secrets. I think he used to spy on whoever it is that tortures girls.