A&E renews Bates Motel, ignores its distinct lack of bearded yokels and garbage auctions 

Suggesting that, hey, maybe this “Norman Bates” story is building to a satisfying conclusion—a train of thought un-derailed by the involvement of Lost’s Carlton Cuse—A&E has renewed Bates Motel for a second season. While nowhere near as popular as the network’s other show about a family with a penchant for luring unsuspecting creatures to their death via clever disguises, the Psycho “re-imagining” has become a qualified success for the A&E, becoming one of Monday night’s top cable offerings among scripted, first-run programs. (In terms of fictional depictions of orchestrated violence, it just can’t pull ahead of WWE Raw.) The renewal paves the way for further tweaks and modernization to the Psycho legend—like maybe Norman ends up storing his mother’s body in a storage unit that he eventually abandons, leading to a highly synergized Storage Wars crossover where the colorful inhabitants of White Pine Bay unknowingly bid on the chance to own a preserved Vera Farmiga.