DTF St Louis is a new HBO show that stars Jason Bateman and David Harbour, and thanks to a surprising shift in genre – as well as a superb supporting performance – it should be your next TV obsession.
Jason Bateman had a big 2025, with hit podcast Smartless going from strength-to-strength, and Netflix drama Black Rabbit kicking off his villain era.
The year also closed out in positive fashion for David Harbour, with Stranger Things concluding via a spectacular final season, in which Hopper got the ending he deserved.
The duo are now embarking on a new journey in 2026, starring in DTF St Louis, which debuts on HBO this Sunday (or Sky/Now on Monday if you are in the UK), and is must-watch TV, for the following reasons…
1. DTF St Louis is a truly jet-black comedy
The first reason to tune is for the show’s wild premise, which matches that kinky title, and takes both stars out of their comfort zone via blackly comic dialogue and situations.
Bateman plays Clark, a seemingly happy family man, with a successful career presenting the weather on TV. While Harbour is Floyd, who makes a living as a sign language interpreter, and is struggling to connect with his adopted son.
Floyd’s love life is also in the toilet, as he’s stopped being attracted to wife Carol (Linda Cardellini) since she became a baseball umpire. While she’s turned off by his love of comic books, and the fact that they make him cry.
So while sitting on swings at a ‘Cornhole Party,’ Clark makes a suggestion – to spice things up, Floyd should join a website called ‘DTF St Louis,’ where he can hook up with strangers for no-strings-attached sex.
Floyd gives it some thought, decides to take the plunge, and over steak dinners they create his DTF profile. At which point the show does an aggressive hand-break turn.
2. A surprising genre shift changes everything
As at this point someone turns up dead, and black comedy becomes mystery crime thriller as well as something of a whodunnit.
It’s an inspired about-turn as until that point, DTF St Louis had played less like a drama, and more like an adult sitcom exploring kink culture.
While it’s all-the-more surprising that the murder happens mid-way through the first episode, meaning in just 30 minutes the characters are established, make some bad decisions, and BANG, their world is turned upside down.
The rest of Episode 1 is largely concerned with the police investigation that follows, but also finds time to feature flashbacks that change what we think we know, as well as chucking in a juicy twist.
Meaning nothing is what it seems in DTF St Louis, and viewers should expect the unexpected throughout the seven episodes.
3. Richard Jenkins is the show’s secret weapon
Harbour gives good weird as Floyd, Bateman imbues Clark with just the right amount of creepy, and Linda Cardellini clearly knows more than she’s letting on in the show’s early scenes, suggesting she’s one to watch.
But the show’s secret weapon is Richard Jenkins as Donoghue Homer, the police detective assigned to the murder case.
Jenkins has already flexed comic muscles in the likes of Hall Pass, Cabin in the Woods, Burn After Reading, and of course, Step Brothers.
And here he’s mostly playing it straight, as a cop that’s pretty sure he’s right all the time. But then Joy Sunday’s special crimes officer enters the equation, and it quickly becomes clear that Homer is getting everything wrong.
As mismatched cops, they make a wonderfully odd couple, while when porn comes into the equation – most notably some naked Indiana Jones pictures – Homer’s confusion and discomfort are hilarious, and prove to be the gift that keeps giving as the series progresses.
All of which means there’s multiple reasons to give DTF St Louis a go when it debuts on HBO this Sunday, March 1, 2026 at 6pm PT/9pm ET (or on Sky/Now from March 2 if you are in the UK).
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