‘Bates Motel’: ‘Psycho’ prequel from ‘Lost’s’ Carlton Cuse scores premiere date

There are anticipated shows on TV, and then there are anticipated shows based off of an Alfred Hitchcock classic featuring one of the masterminds behind “Lost” as an executive producer. “Bates Motel” already has expectations at least at the roof (if not through it) just based on the pedigree alone, and now it has something else rather valuable to boot: an official premiere date on A&E.

It was announced Friday that this new series, which stars Freddie Highmore (“Finding Neverland”) and traces how a young Norman Bates originally developed much of his psychoses, will premiere on Monday, March 18 on the cable network. This is an interesting date for a number of reasons, with one of the primary ones being that Monday night is not often a big one for scripted cable. You are competing against a lineup that will include “Castle,” “Hawaii Five-0,” and “Revolution” on broadcast TV, and all of these are pretty solid ratings draws with older viewers (who are probably the same crowd that would appreciate this show).

Then again, it is also becoming increasingly hard to figure out a timeslot that actually works for cable TV anymore, especially given just how much good programming there is out there. At one point this past fall, we had “Revenge,” “The Good Wife,” “Dexter,” and “The Walking Dead” all airing at the same exact time, and this is enough to even cause someone with a DVR to have some major nightmares. Sundays and Thursdays are becoming major logjams for programming, and since Fridays and Saturdays are largely dead, Mondays may have been the network’s best choice. Plus, it’s hard to fault A&E for anything right now given the massive success of “Duck Dynasty” and “Longmire.”

Are you excited for this show? If you want to read some more about what is coming up for A&E, you can do so here.

Photo: A&E