Violence has always had a place on television, but a new trend of disturbingly violent television is gaining popularity.

One of the most recent shows, The Following, centers around a detective, played by Kevin Bacon,

who must work against a Poe-quoting cult led by a brilliantly evil murderer, chillingly portrayed by James Purefoy. Within the first episode, prison guards are stabbed, a woman commits a violent suicide in public, and multiple people are tortured and murdered. Despite some critics who believe the show to be cliché and overly violent, it has garnered mostly positive reviews.

Senior Kelly Bange is excited to see the program, which has not yet watched.

“I need to watch it,” Bange said. “I really enjoy crime shows.”

Another program to premiere is Hannibal, which promises to be full of gore as it follows profiler Will Graham and cannibalistic psychologist Hannibal Lector. The show will apparently begin before Hannibal’s murderous tendencies are publicly known, but after he has begun killing.

  Hannibal is not the only horror movie-turned-show. Alfred Hitchcock’s classic, Psycho, will be turned into Bates Motel, a look into the life of a teenage Norman Bates, played by Freddie Highmore, and his strange relationship with his mother.

Spanish teacher Nicholas Schiffgens thinks Bates Motel looks different and possibly very interesting.

“I’ve only seen him [Highmore] as an innocent kid, so it’ll be interesting to see him play something much darker,” Schiffgens explained.

It is difficult to say why Americans’ thirst for violence seems to be increasing. Anyone studying television over the years can see that writers have steadily been increasing their shock value.

The question is how television writers will horrify viewers after these shows end. When serial killers and hours of physical and psychological torture go out of style, how far will television writers go to keep viewers on the edge of their seats? The shock value can hardly increase at this point.