“Our influences are definitely worn on our sleeve,” he confesses. “We didn’t necessarily want to nostalgically recreate one of those shows. I just think that, by nature of my fellow writers and I being so heavily influenced by Outer Limits and Twilight Zone and even Night Gallery reruns when we were kids, we just couldn’t shake it.” Dimension 404 episodes cover everything from clones to alien invasions to time travel, all centered around life with modern technology. “At their heart they’re all about real characters searching for meaning and understanding in a changing world where culture and technology are evolving at a rate at which it is really impossible to keep up,” Dolly explains. “Then those characters experience that fun hook, that Twilight Zone-esque twist.” The self-contained nature of the anthology series allows recognizable stars to sign on for quick appearances, which is guaranteed to bring in viewers. “It’s certainly a lot easier for someone like Patton Oswalt to commit to half a week’s worth of work as opposed to a season commitment where production would take place over the course of many, many weeks. So we were incredibly lucky in that regard that when we’re reaching out to talent, we’re only asking for a small commitments with really high yield for us.” “That was one of the most exciting days of my life,” says Dolly, “hearing that he not only agreed to do the show but was actually really super-excited about it. This wasn’t just some one-off paid gig for him. It was, he informed us, a real passion for him to be associated with an anthology show, him being a fan of Twilight Zone when he was a kid.” Hulu has an interesting release strategy for Dimension 404, dropping the first three episodes on April 4 (a clever choice of date for a show of this title), and releasing the final three in the succeeding weeks. “I think this split release offers the best of both worlds,” suggests Dolly. “I personally am a fan of event television, and that is the type of show that Dimension 404 is. Each episode is in a sense its own mini-movie, and we approached these as pieces of cinema.
