Parents' Guide to

Weird Loners

By Joyce Slaton, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Quirky characters become friends in trying-too-hard comedy.

TV Fox Comedy 2015
Weird Loners Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

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What's the Story?

Thrown together in neighboring brownstones in the fictional NYC neighborhood of Qookland, four WEIRD LONERS find comfort in each other's company. Nervous dental hygienist Caryn (Becki Newton) has just thrown over both her fiancé and her roommate; she's still looking for love but offers the empty room to free-spirited artist Zara (Meera Rohit Kumbhani), whom she met by chance. Meanwhile, in the next brownstone over, stunted man-boy Eric (Nate Torrence) is grieving the recent death of his father and asks his womanizing, recently fired cousin Stosh (Zachary Knighton) to move in. The four have little in common -- except the fact that they're each single, lonely, and quirky. But at least they have each other.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

Neither awful nor wonderful, Weird Loners occupies that sitcom middle ground of not being great enough to purposely switch on but tolerable to watch if it happens to come on and you can't reach the remote. Some of the gags are positively painful. Stosh, clearly pitched as the louche Charlie Sheen-ish of the cast, is dismissed from his job in the pilot for "banging" his boss's fiancé after loosening her up with a hit of ecstasy. On the other hand, his cousin Eric, who's chubby, so obviously he's the more major loser, stages sock-puppet shows on his stairs. Sigh. You laughing yet? Or do you see these "quirks" for what they are: lazy characterization?

And yet, some of the jokes do land. An unrealistically complicated setup lands all four of the main characters on a park bench, pretending to lip-read the vows of a couple getting married. Eric lip-synchs with the minister, explaining that he's marrying them in the name of "our Lord and savior Jimmy Carter! Or Johnny Cash. It's a J.C. name, those are hard to get." Zing! Winning lines like this occur every now and again, and the cast has the charm to pull 'em off when they do. It's just that "not awful" is not really enough to anchor a TV show these days; weird and quirky characters also need to be grounded with some heart.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Weird Loners is said to be set in a fictional NYC neighborhood, Qookland. Why would a TV show make up a setting instead of using a real place?

  • TV shows often concern sets of neighbors. Why do you think that is?

TV Details

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