Steve Conrad discusses the HBO limited series DTF St. Louis on Deadline’s Crew Call podcast, describing its deliberately uneasy mix of Midwestern familiarity, sexual intrigue and melodrama. The Emmy-nominated drama follows a television weatherman who introduces his hearing-impaired interpreter colleague to a kinky dating app, leading to a love triangle and an ambiguous death.

Conrad said the title contrasts the provocative shorthand “DTF” with St Louis’s supposedly ordinary image, reflecting his view that people and places are rarely as normal as they appear. He cited friends’ difficult experiences with dating apps and questioned their implied promise of consequence-free intimacy; the series received 13 Emmy nominations, including Limited or Anthology Series, acting nominations for Jason Bateman, David Harbour and Linda Cardellini, and writing and directing nominations for Conrad.