DTF St. Louis, the new HBO comedy starring Jason Bateman and David Harbour as sexually frustrated suburban dads, was not filmed here. The production instead took advantage of Georgia’s famously generous film tax credits, and so Atlanta stands in for the Gateway City. Economic boosters hope the recent reemergence of credits in Missouri will mean the next time a show like this comes along, it’s actually filmed here.
Even so, DTF St. Louis takes great pains to portray its suburban milieu, and so it’s worth asking whether it captures the place even without its literal depiction. The answer to that is a little bit complicated. In some ways, DTF St. Louis really gets us. In others, you might wonder if the production crew has even been here.
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Here are 10 things that caught our attention—the good, the bad, and the just plain silly.
What they got right:
1. The suburbs look a lot like the St. Louis suburbs. One thing they got right is that Jason Bateman’s character lives in a place that looks a lot like Webster Groves: Tree-lined streets, a little bit hilly in parts, pleasantly affluent. David Harbour’s character, befitting his cash-strapped status, is in a suburb that’s a bit less affluent, with older ranch homes that would be at home in Olivette.
2. The court documents have that Missouri look. Ask a journalist who covers the courts; they even seem to have been stamped with more or less the same seal.
3. Downtown has a Market Street. Hey, just because it’s a simple thing to get right doesn’t mean we didn’t appreciate it. Anyone can show the Arch in the background. It takes a production going above and beyond to get at least one street name right.
4. The local meteorologist is a celebrity. Even the law enforcement officers questioning him know his tag line. In this town, you can build a whole career off a good tag line.
5. The pool is closed. OK, so the county never had a Kevin Kline Junior Community Pool (though the region’s theatre awards used to be named after the Priory grad-turned-Oscar winner). But if it did, budget cuts mean it would very likely be closed.
6. The middle-aged dads quickly pal up. Despite numerous Reddit threads to the contrary, this is not a particularly hard town for adults to make friends. And indeed, within minutes of meeting, the Harbour and Bateman characters are discussing their medical conditions and soon thereafter getting their families together.
7. The characters play cornhole. One of the most St. Louis things about DTF St. Louis is that when David Harbour’s character first invites Jason Bateman’s family over, it’s for a “cornhole thing.” Yep, that’s how we do it!
What they got wrong:
1. Somehow, the law enforcement officer investigating a suspicious death doesn’t know about cornhole. Easily the most ridiculous line of the first episode? When Bateman explains to the detective played by Richard Jenkins that the two families first hung out at a “cornhole thing,” Jenkins says, “What’s a cornhole thing?” Cast that man out of law enforcement!
2. The agency in charge is the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Department. Which does not investigate anything. As in the city, the county sheriff is pretty much only tasked with courtroom security and process service. Kudos for briefly acknowledging the possibility of a turf war involving municipal officers and county law enforcement, but those points get taken away for not simply deploying the St. Louis County Police Department.
3. One character works at “Purina national.” It’s nice that they made Linda Cardellini an accountant for one of the area’s better employers, and nice that she seems to constantly be wearing Purina athleisure (every St. Louis’ favorite attire either has a sports logo or is something they got at work for free). But “Purina national”? Ain’t no such thing.
4. The TV station offers a tornado warning for “St. Louis metro county.” It’s St. Louis metro or St. Louis County. Never both!
5. The TV station is WTGK. Either these people have no idea that broadcast signals west of the Mississippi start with K, or they have no idea St. Louis is west of the Mississippi. Either option is depressing.
And finally….
When bored county dads go to plot adultery, we highly doubt they drive to the one and only Outback Steakhouse in the region, which happens to be in South County. Our money’s on Helen Fitzgerald’s instead.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story referred inaccurately to the role of the county sheriff. We regret the error.
