Welcome Back To The Bates Motel

If you randomly ask anyone to name a well-known motelier, unfortunately the most common response would be "Norman Bates" from Alfred Hitchcock's classic film Psycho. I'm not too sure what this says about the motel industry.

Norman, an infamous longtime motelier with a unique customer service outlook and more than a few "Mother issues" probably hasn't done the image of motel industry any favours.

One of the highlights of my trip to LA a few years ago was visiting the Bates Motel at Paramont Studios. Unfortunately, the fast moving golf-cart trains that snake tourists through the studio tour didn't ponder for as long as I would have liked:

Psycho is an enduring gift that keeps on giving and I see that another chapter will soon be added to the franchise with a made-for-TV series, funnily enough called: Bates Motel.

"Bates Motel stars Freddie Highmore (August Rush) as a young Norman Bates — the part played in four films by Anthony Perkins — and Vera Farmiga (Safe House) as his mother Norma. The pair have a, shall we say, complicated relationship which will take center stage in the series. The image below (courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter) is the first we’ve seen of them in character.

The series is produced by Lost‘s Carlton Cuse and Friday Night Lights‘ Kerry Ehrin. A&E liked their take so much that the cable network passed over the usual pilot stage and ordered the show to series. Bates Motel will premiere sometime next year."

Source: Click HERE

To the delight of amatuer psychologists everywhere, we will soon learn how Norman became the dark and complicated character that ended up running a down-and-out motel bypassed years before.

Makes me wonder what events in my own childhood made me attracted to this crazy industry;-)