Rob Owen

A&E reopens “Bates Motel” to retell the story of Norman Bates in an intriguing prequel series that creates an expanded Bates family and setting as it seeks to explain how a teenage Norman eventually went psycho.

The story of Norman Bates has been told many times since the original 1960 “Psycho.” There were two big-screen sequels (1983 and 1986), a 1990 TV movie prequel and a 1998 remake. There was even a 1987 TV movie, also called “Bates Motel,” about a friend of Norman’s from the psych ward who inherits the Bates Motel and reopens it after Norman’s death.

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — CBS’s “Vegas” returns in April after more than a month’s pre-emption, moving to a new 8 p.m. Friday time period.

For “Vegas,” the last batch of episodes of the season — beginning April 5 — may be the show’s last chance to convince CBS executives to renew the freshman drama for a second season.

Q: We are fans of “Law & Order: UK” (on BBC America, I believe). Has this been renewed? Will we be able to view it in the U.S.?

A: British TV works differently from American TV. On American TV, programs air fairly consistently year-to-year. On British TV, that’s not always the case.

The CBS cop drama “Golden Boy” does not reinvent the police show, but it does give it some interesting tweaks that make this new prime-time entry significantly better than many broadcast-network series.

“Golden Boy” is more complex than what viewers often see on many CBS hourlong shows. It does not display the verisimilitude of, say, TNT’s “Southland,” but “Golden Boy” offers more sophisticated storytelling than CBS’s “Hawaii Five-0” or “Criminal Minds.”

National Geographic Channel sticks its pinky toe into the waters of scripted programming with this weekend’s premiere of “Killing Lincoln” (6 p.m. today with rebroadcasts to follow), based on the book by Martin Dugard and Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly.

Although the book was criticized for some inaccuracies — a reviewer for the official National Park Service bookstore at Ford’s Theatre initially recommended the book not be sold at that site due to inaccuracies that O’Reilly says have been corrected in subsequent printings — the Nat Geo movie is a thoroughly entertaining, exciting docudrama.

Q: Sunday evening I looked forward to watching “666 Park Avenue,” which was listed to air a few Sundays back. Instead of “666,” another program was shown. Why did ABC change this? Will “666” never be shown again?

A: ABC canceled “666 Park Avenue” in the fall due to low ratings, but had been planning to let it play out until all the episodes aired. But ratings continued to tumble, so the network yanked it at the last minute. It’s possible that ABC might burn off the remaining episodes this summer, but there’s no guarantee that will happen.

Q: Can you tell me when the new season of “The Newsroom” will begin?

A: HBO has not yet announced a premiere date, but it’s expected to be this summer, most likely in June, the same month it premiered in 2012.