‘Bates Motel’: Carlton Cuse has fun with ‘Twin Peaks’ comparison
Are “Bates Motel” and “Twin Peaks” really one in the same, and is this question going to anger fans of either show that hate the other? We can’t think of a cult favorite that is more polarizing than the David Lynch drama: To this day, there are people who scream about it in the supermarket (like one of the writers here), and also people who scream back at them.
With there only being two episodes left until season 1 of the A&E “Psycho” prequel is complete, the show, its cast, and producers behind the scenes (including executive producer Carlton Cuse) sat down for a panel discussion at the Paley Center recently moderated by another awesome showrunner in Shawn Ryan. In this, the topic of the comparison (which has come up in the past few weeks, and was not the result of rambling from any one crazy person in the room) came up. Cuse’s response? Well, it may be the most hilarious thing that came out of the entire panel:
“We pretty much ripped off Twin Peaks … If you wanted to get that confession, the answer is yes. I loved that show. They only did 30 episodes. Kerry and I thought we’d do the 70 that are missing.”
Regardless of whether or not you believe that the two shows are similar or not, our point remains the same that “Bates Motel” must be the sort of thing that A&E is thanking their lucky stars for during the breaks where they are stroking their “Duck Dynasty” beards. It is instant credibility for a network best known over the past decade for “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” and it helps to even boost the profile of some of their other strong series that you don’t talk about including “Longmire,” which we like to think of as “Battlestar Galactica” with horses, and with basically everything else that is different save for Katee Sackhoff.
After all of the twists and turns of the past few weeks on “Bates Motel,” we spend our time wondering whether or not we will need to join Norman Bates in therapy so we can figure all of this out. David Lynch will probably be there already, with the therapist prodding him for answers on “Mulholland Dr.”.
Photo: A&E