A&E's 'Bates Motel' review: Puzzling

Carlton Cuse, in his first series since "Lost," arrives on a screen near you Monday with his new show, "Bates Motel."

Quick description -- a "contemporary prequel" to Hitchcock's '60 classic, "Psycho."

 What do I think? On to the jump! But here's a question that I never get into in the review, and is not addressed in the show itself -- why is A&E/Cuse rewinding this "Pyscho" prequel to the present day? I mean, really: That's odd because how can one reimagine Norman when in fact he was pyscho back in 1960?  Why not (say) set this series in 1950 when Norman Bates was a teen like Freddy Highmore's character? Doubtess this came up at the Winter Press tour (I was not in attendance). But I have a theory: It's more expensive to mount a period piece, with costumes, cars, buildings, everything.  Always look to the money in TV. 

The title of tonight's premiere, "First You Dream, then You Die," refers to an unfinished story by '30s-era noir crime writer, Cornell Woolrich, who (yes) lived with his mother as an adult and inspired Hitchcock's "Rear Window."

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 Though clearly indebted to movie history, Cuse has re-imagined Norman as a youth without making any attempt to re-imagine "Pyscho." Instead, this feels like a thoroughly modern cable drama, with (sadly, now requisite) brutal violence, a high school storyline,, and strange townies with stranger backstories. With the exception of intriguing, soulful, Emma, none of the characters really jump off the screen and into your lap. The acting is solid all around - just not entirely convincing. Remember: You are watching Norman BATES, before he turns into the knife-slashing monster of Janet Leigh's worst nightmare.

Cuse and A&E would have been better advised to give the motel a different name and start fresh.