A&E devloping Psycho prequel series

[RJDiogenes]

I don't think they've actually said that this will be set in the 50s. Since it's a re-imagining, it could very well be set in the present.

[Temis the Vorta]

If it's modern day, ten demerits!

[RJDiogenes]

Indeed. That would make me much less likely to check it out.

[Admiral James Kirk]

Part of the fun of a Psycho prequel is making it a period piece!

[Dorian Thompson]

I'm sure it's not set in the present. If it were, they'd call it a reboot. TPTB are pointedly calling it a prequel in all the print descriptions. The sign in the poster is not a modern hotel sign. I'd bet my paycheck it's set in the 1950s. Norman simply couldn't get away with everything he did, including keeping a dead body, in a present day setting. The whole nature of the story, how isolated he is--the fact that no one came snooping around from child protective services even though a well known crazy woman had a child with her....it just wouldn't work in the internet age. Norman could google mental illness.

No, it's a prequel. It's set in the past. And I agree that Psycho II was a good film. It had the saddest music I think I've ever heard in a movie. Google it and it really sets a tragic tone. The more I think about this series--the more I think it could work.

[RJDiogenes]

I hope you're right. It has enough going against it as it is.

[Gaith]

Crack reporting from the AV Club:

Having perhaps realized that it might otherwise be a rehash of the TV movie Psycho IV: The Beginning, the Carlton Cuse-produced series has been revealed (via a script leak to Shock Till You Drop) to be less straight prequel than contemporary reimagining, with all the creative liberties and cell phones that implies.

On that note, the recent casting of Max Thieriot also answered the question of "Who will play Norman Bates' motorcycle-riding, rebellious, James Dean-like brother Dylan?" that was likely never asked, because Norman doesn't have an older brother, because his being an only child and thus his mother's best friend is seemingly crucial to their weird dynamic. But in this new, more modern take on Psycho lore, Dylan is as much a part of Norman's world as his trying out for the track team, going to wild high school parties, hanging out with a quartet of rebellious teen girls, and sneaking looks at Japanese manga comics filled with "young, Asian girls in various states of sexual slavery." Boy, for his mother to compete with all of that, she must be super sexy. Maybe they should just forego the Psycho connection entirely and rename this Sexy Mom Motel?

[Beagleman]

What the..!? Oh my god, this is gonna be so much fun, get the popcorn out and watch heads explode!

[Temis the Vorta]

Obviously, mommy loved her sexy James Dean-esque son more than Norman, whose pathological jealousy is what sparked his serial killer career.

[RJDiogenes]

I blame the comic books.

[Enterprise is Great]

Doctor Wertham...what a nut.

[Admiral James Kirk]

Dorian Thompson wrote:

---

And I agree that Psycho II was a good film. It had the saddest music I think I've ever heard in a movie.

Goldsmith was great!

[Dorian Thompson]

That's it right there. That refrain breaks my heart. It screams loneliness and grief. Norman's tragedy that turned deadly for all.

A contemporary reimagining? I don't know about that. Of course, it may well be good, but I just don't know. I'll give it a chance, but it'll have to hook me very quickly. For me, the period piece would have been more effective. Show Norman as a normal young man, desperate to be good, struggling against his mother's illness as we know he's condemned to the same fate. It could have been compelling with skilled enough writing.

[Enterprise is Great]

Nestor Carbonell, Mike Vogel join A&E's "Bates Motel"

A&E's "Psycho" prequel series "Bates Motel" has found its law enforcement officers in Nestor Carbonell and Mike Vogel.

Though Carbonell is best known for his role as the ageless Richard Alpert on "Lost" -- which, like "Bates" was executive produced by Carlton Cuse -- both actors were also series regulars on doomed network shows last season. Carbonell played a FBI agent on The CW's Sarah Michelle Gellar vehicle "Ringer" and Vogel was a pilot on period
drama "Pan Am."

Their "Bates Motel" characters sound a little more twisted: Carbonell takes on the role of "sinister" Sheriff Royce Romero, while Vogel is "sociopathic" Deputy Zach Shelby.

[RJDiogenes]

For the 21st century, everybody must be a psycho.