The Duplass Brothers Talk New HBO Series 'Room 104'

The idea came 10 years ago: An experimental show that took place in one square room—a space so “epically boring” you think, “Could anything interesting possibly happen inside those walls?” says Mark Duplass. The answer to that question is the new HBO series Room 104, co-created with his brother, Jay, which celebrates the drama that can emerge from utter banality. “That’s really the impetus behind the whole show,” says Mark.

is a throwback to early TV, when helped popularize the anthology series. The genre, which thrived through the ’70s, had been out of favor; the critically acclaimed and followed. At the same time, the U.K. series , a modern-day , was having dark fun with stand-alone episodes, and last year, Netflix got into anthology comedy with Joe Swanberg’s Chicago-based sexcapade, . Even creator Matt Weiner has jumped on the trend with Amazon’s currently filming (each self-contained episode focuses on people who believe themselves to be related to the imperial Russian family).