Bates Motel is an American drama thriller television series developed for television by Carlton Cuse, Kerry Ehrin and Anthony Cipriano, produced by Universal Television for A&E.

The series, being a "contemporary prequel" to Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho (based on Robert Bloch's novel of the same name), depicts the life of Norman Bates and his mother Norma prior to the events portrayed in Hitchcock's film, albeit in a different fictional town ("White Pine Bay, Oregon," as opposed to the film's "Fairvale, California") and in a modern setting. The series begins after the death of Norma's husband, when she purchases a motel located in a coastal Oregon town so she and Norman can start a new life.