8 Awesome Horror Movie TV Shows Nobody Watched
3. Bates Motel
Prequels are a tricky, tricky thing and sometimes what makes horror in particular great is being given just enough details for our brains to fill out the rest. Did we really need to know the full story of Psycho’s Norman Bates and his mother? Universal Television certainly thought so, as they didn’t even bother with a pilot and approved a season of the show without a full proof of concept.
Bates Motel stunned fairly early on with its tense, uncomfortable look at the tragically sheltered life of Norman and his overbearing mother Norma, both excellently portrayed by Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga. It had its audience on tenterhooks, looking for signs of Norman’s descent as it blurred the line of the Mother and Son relationship.
Bates Motel, unlike many shows on this list, actually made it to the end of its story and thankfully wasn’t the victim of cancellation. For fans of the show, this was quite some relief. Later seasons of Bates Motel saw the show’s audience plummet quite considerably, from 3 million down to 1 million viewers, even though the story continued to be intriguing as it unfolded year-to-year.
Those who fell away from the show would’ve sadly missed out on Norman’s fall into true madness. The show’s masterful final season should be cherished considering a lot of horror TV shows never make it this far.