On “Seinfeld,” the on-set rule was “no hugging, no learning” as Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer went about th✨eir self-involved ways o♒n New York’s Upper West Side.
The same maxim could apply to Fox’s new comedy “Weird Loners,” which centers on another quartet of maladjust𓂃ed 30-somethings who find themselves thrown together in a Queens townhouse. Created by Michael J. Weithorn (“The King of Queens”), the initial six episodes — premiering Tuesday aܫt 9:30 p.m. — document the failings of these relationship-challenged neighbors.
“I know that Michael’s goal was not to be likable. He threw likability out 🦄the window,” series star Becki Newton tells The Post. “They don’t really learn in a typical TV fashion from their mistakes;ไ they continue their cycle of bad behavior.”
Newton (“Ugly Betty”) plays Caryn, a 37-year-old dental hygienist whose insecurities have kept her from finding love. Zachary Knighton (“Happy Endings”) co-stars as Stosh (it’s Polish), a 36-year-old sales rep whose penchant for sleeping with his co-workers’ wives and fiancees getsಌ him fired and evicted.
The two become neighbors when he moves in with his kooky cousin Eric (Nate Torrence) next door, w💃hile Caryn takes in emotionally detached artist Zara (Meera Rohiܫt Kumbhani).
Though “Loners” is set in Queens, it films in LA; the New York landmark shots, like one of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, are seen via green-screen technology. Its location in the borough🅠 is mostly insignificant to its plotlines, which center🍨 in the townhouse.
“In a weird way [the characters] all try to avoid each other and are kind of forced to hang ou♍t all the time, so they’re never like ‘Let’s walk over to the bar,’ ” says Knighꦏton.
ꩵ“They weren’t friends before,” Newton adds. “They’re forced to be together and that discomfort they have with each other is where a lot of ꦺthe comedy comes from.”
The two actors — who both lived in Long Island City (Queens) for 🐭a time when they were first starting out — can recall their own “Weird Loner” moments in their lives. For Knighton, it was being forced to live in a tent in his friend’s backyard when he first moved to New York with his pet Rottweiler.
And Newton admits her🎀 behavior when she first met her husband, actor Chris Diamantopoulos, was “a little stalker-y.”
While their stories enꦚ🧸ded happily, don’t expect the same for their stunted TV characters.
“That’s what Michael pitched me: ‘I don’t necessarily see that you’re gonna get better. I think maybe you might get even worse’ — which I love,” Knighton says. “These people are kind of despicable in that way thജat I know I can relate as an actor. The same goes for an audience member. They can watch this and really♔ enjoy Stosh being a jerk.”