The existential value of the hotel room — as a liminal space of erasure, new potential and rebirth — has been pretty consistently (and often interestingly) used in TV/film/theatre lately, between the likes of Anomalisa, The Lobster, The Leftovers, and even the completely uneven and silly AHS: Hotel. Now, Variety reports that the Duplass brothers (Jay and Mark) are likewise going to be exploring the odd potential of the genericized hotel room space, but seemingly with something of a lighter touch.
HBO has just ordered an anthology comedy series called Room 104 from the brothers, which will be set in one room (safe to assume it’s room 104) of a standard American chain hotel, and will see different characters coming in and out of it in each episode. The go-ahead for the series (for 2017) comes not long after HBO cancelled their last live action comedy, Togetherness, following its second season. (Their animated comedy series, Animals, is, however, still going, as it was originally picked up for a two-season order, and only the first has aired.)
The Duplass brothers, who’ll be acting as both executive producers and showrunners of Room 104, said in a statement:
We’ve all seen stories set in seedy motels and high-class international resorts, but for years we’ve been fascinated by the funny, weird, sad, scary, absurd things going down in that corporate chain hotel near the airport. That’s what Room 104 is after… finding some magic in the seemingly mundane.