TVLine Items: Vera Farmiga Checks Into Bates Motel, Chenoweth to Co-Host Anderson & More

Norman Bates’ mother has been found!

Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air) has been cast in A&E’s Bates Motel as Norma Louise Bates, our sister site Deadline reports.

The straight-to-series Psycho prequel, from executive producers Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Kerry Ehrin (Friday Night Lights, Parenthood), is a contemporary exploration of Norman Bates’ formative years, his relationship with his mother and the world they inhabit. Momma Bates is described as passionate, compelling and smart.

The project marks a return to TV for Farmiga, who starred in USA Network’s Touching Evil with Jeffrey Donovan.

Bates Motel is slated to premiere in 2013.

Ready for more of today’s TV dish? Well…

• The reformatted Anderson Live has landed its first guest co-host: Kristin Chenoweth. The singer/actress, who recently announced that she would not be continuing her guest arc on The Good Wife following an on-set injury, will join CNN anchor Anderson Cooper on Sept. 10 for his first week back in daytime. Goldie Hawn, Kelly Osbourne, Cyndi Lauper, Howie Mandel, Erin Andrews, D.L. Hughley and Kellie Pickler will also take a stab at co-hosting duties.

• Can’t get enough True Blood? HBO has released a bonus scene from last night’s season finale that reveals what happened to Jason, Tara, Jessica, Pam and Nora after they escaped the Authority.

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• Kate Hudson shows off some impressive dance moves in the latest Glee promo. Check it out below:

• Tom Bower (Die Hard 2, The Waltons) has been tapped to play Dwight’s great uncle Heinrich in The Office‘s potential spin-off, The Farm, Deadline reports. The latest Schrute to join the NBC comedy’s offshoot is described as “charming, greedy and manipulative.” Bower joins the previously cast Majandra Delfino, Thomas Middleditch and Matt Jones.

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• Nickelodeon has cancelled How to Rock after one season, per Deadline. The news comes just two weeks after the cable net decided to end Victorious.

• Robin Roberts announced today on Good Morning America that she will begin medical leave on Sept. 3 for a bone marrow transplant.

• Syfy is nearing a deal to pick up the Canadian sci-fi drama Continuum, per Deadline. The series stars Rachel Nichols (Alias) as a cop from the future who is trapped in present-day Vancouver.

• Lost alumna Tania Raymonde will recur next season on Switched at Birth. Per TVGuide.com, she’ll play a street artist who becomes Bay’s new bestie. Switched returns with new episodes Monday, Sept. 3.

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• In ratings news, Sunday’s Big Brother hit a high with 7.3 million viewers, the largest audience for any episode of the reality competition series this summer.

• Horror legend Robert Englund (Nightmare on Elm Street) has been cast in Syfy’s Lake Placid: The Final Chapter, playing a member of the Bickerman family. The flick debuts Saturday, Sept. 29 at 9/8c.

• Eureka‘s Salli Richardson-Whitfield has booked the lead in Lifetime’s drama pilot The Secret Lives Of Wives. Per Deadline, the project explores the truth behind the marriages of four women. The actress joins as the host of a sultry radio show whose marriage is on the rocks.

• Press PLAY below for a glimpse at HBO’s upcoming telefilm The Girl. The buzzy flick tells the story of horror film legend Alfred Hitchcock (played by Toby Jones) and his obsession with his onetime muse and leading lady Tippi Heddren (Sienna Miller).

• AMC’s untitled legal drama pilot — from writer Richard LaGravenese (P.S. I Love You) and director Tony Goldwyn (Scandal) — has added Parks and Recreation‘s Paul Schneider to its cast, per The Hollywood Reporter. The project follows a District Attorney who, upon discovering new evidence, begins reinvestigating a once-sensational murder case. Schneider will play a lawyer with a crush on the previously cast Malin Ireland (Homeland).

• ABC is taking another stab at its ill-fated John Leguizamo project Kings of Van Nuys, which was passed on last pilot season. Based on the British series Only Fools and Horses, the comedy centers on two brothers (Leguizamo and We Bought a Zoo‘s Dustin Ybarra) and their grandfather (Christopher Lloyd) as they misguidedly attempt to become rich.

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