{"id":2935,"date":"2026-03-06T21:48:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T21:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/?p=2935"},"modified":"2026-03-07T16:07:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T16:07:39","slug":"on-hbos-new-series-dtf-st-louis-charm-glory-of-the-mundane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/index.php\/2026\/03\/06\/on-hbos-new-series-dtf-st-louis-charm-glory-of-the-mundane\/","title":{"rendered":"On HBO’s New Series “DTF St. Louis”: Charm & Glory of the Mundane"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So the best show on TV I\u2019ve seen lately is the new HBO series DTF St. Louis<\/em>, starring Jason Bateman, Linda Cardellini, and David Harbour. I\u2019d heard a little about it but was pleasantly surprised. For one thing, it\u2019s billed somewhat as a sex comedy, as the title arrives via an eponymous app that\u2019s essentially a hook-up site for horny St. Louisans. That\u2019s mainly played for awkward laughs between the two stars, Jason Bateman and David Harbour, as they negotiate some sexless marriages. But I would have expected several of these dates for comic milking. Wrong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The show quickly moves past that hookup-app setup and into the lives of the characters, including a murder. Now in the past I\u2019ve complained how it seems too many TV shows include a murder or unnecessary violence to draw in an audience, but the case here is more in the category of an offbeat\u00a0Forensic Files<\/em>\u00a0than a typical murder mystery. I\u2019ve only seen Episode One (which debuted last Sunday) but I\u2019m already hooked on the mystery: We know who is killed but not exactly how. Several suspects but the most likely is almost surely not the perp. So there\u2019s some zing built for the second episode, as the audience wants to know more to do their own sleuthing. But the real charm of the show is the details: David Harbour is married to Linda Cardellini but sexually turned off by her uniform as a Little League baseball umpire. Jason Bateman rides a recumbent bicycle that makes him look super dorky, including a somewhat oddly shaped bike helmet. David Harbour is the stepfather of a bratty teenager who steals the show each time he appears, often sullenly throwing rocks at houses.\u00a0
I actually know St. Louis fairly well: My wife grew up in a suburb on the west side. Does the series look like St. Louis? Not exactly. The street and neighborhood scenes are pretty generic. I can\u2019t say it affected my viewing in the least. Jason Bateman plays a popular TV weatherman and for that reason I suppose St. Louis is a city of the right size\/cultural importance to anchor the story.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So far much is being withheld. Linda Cardellini\u2014a terrific actress whose last big series was the Dead to Me<\/em> (2019) comedy\/action series with Christina Applegate\u2014is a total mystery. I expect we\u2019ll find out more about her shortly. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So the best show on TV I\u2019ve seen lately is the new HBO series DTF St. Louis, starring Jason Bateman, Linda Cardellini, and David Harbour. I\u2019d heard a little about it but was pleasantly surprised. For one thing, it\u2019s billed somewhat … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[348,18,349,346,347],"tags":[353,350,352,351],"class_list":["post-2935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-david-harbour","category-good-tv","category-hbo-series","category-jason-bateman","category-linda-cardellini","tag-dead-to-me","tag-dtf-st-louis","tag-good-mysteries","tag-jason-bateman-shows"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t