''Room 104'' is an

American television Television is one of the major mass media outlets in the United States. , household ownership of television sets in the country is 96.7%, with approximately 114,200,000 American households owning at least one television set as of August 2013. ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically cate ...

series created by

Mark Duplass Mark David Duplass (born December 7, 1976) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and musician. With his brother Jay Duplass, he started the film production company Duplass Brothers Productions in 1996. Duplass has written and directed films, ...

and

Jay Duplass Lawrence Jay Duplass (born March 7, 1973) is an American filmmaker, actor and author widely known for his films '' The Puffy Chair'' (2005), ''Cyrus'' (2010), and ''Jeff, Who Lives at Home'' (2011), made in collaboration with his younger brother, ...

. The series debuted on July 28, 2017, on HBO. A twelve-episode second season aired between November 9 and December 15, 2018. On February 8, 2019, HBO revealed that a third season had been filmed and that the network were in talks for a fourth season renewal. The show's twelve-episode third season premiered on September 13, 2019. Filming for season 4 was completed by September 2019. In May 2020, HBO announced that the fourth season would be its last and it premiered on July 24, 2020, and concluded on October 9, 2020.

Premise

The series is set in a single room of an American roadside motel, exploring characters who pass through it in each episode. Each episode is a different genre from horror and thriller to comedy.

Production

The series received a 24-episode order and all the episodes were shot back-to-back as a cost-saving measure, and they were split into two 12-episode seasons. In a December 2018 interview, co-creator Mark Duplass revealed that the third season had already been filmed and edited, and he was writing season 4. According to Duplass, episodes of ''Room 104'' are made for "a quarter" of the cost typically expected for HBO series. Episodes are conceived in a "

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-govern ...

" by the writers where they come up with dozens of ideas, and then they reach out to filmmakers that they are interested in to direct the episodes. Episodes are filmed in a "fast and loose" manner; for example,

Josephine Decker Josephine Decker (born April 2, 1981) is an American actress, filmmaker, and performance artist. As of 2020 she has directed four experimental feature films: the psychological thriller '' Butter on the Latch'' (2013), the erotic thriller '' Thou ...

directed her episode in two days only using an iPhone. For the editing process, directors do not receive final cut, and Duplass screens the episodes to a group of 20 people who work at their company for feedback.

Reception

''Room 104'' has received generally positive reviews from critics. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the first season has a score of 65 out of 100 based on 22 reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, it has an 87% approval rating with an average score of 6.85 out of 10 based on 39 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "''Room 104'' uses its anthology structure to its advantage, telling a series of short, eclectic stories that hit their marks more often than they miss." Reviewing the entire second season, Ben Travers of

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

gave it a positive review with a "B+" grade. He wrote, "the variety of storytelling on display builds such tingly anticipation, each new episode is worth it even when the narrative disappoints" and that it is "such remarkable, refreshing television that even when it's bad, it's good".

Episodes

Season 1 (2017)

Season 2 (2018)

Season 3 (2019)

Season 4 (2020)

References

External links

* * {{HBONetwork Shows 2017 American television series debuts 2010s American anthology television series 2010s American drama television series 2010s American horror television series 2020 American television series endings 2020s American anthology television series 2020s American drama television series 2020s American horror television series English-language television shows 104 Magic realism television series HBO original programming American thriller television series Horror drama television series Television shows set in New York (state) Television series set in hotels Television series by Duplass Brothers Productions