The series follows the patrons and employees of an Irish bar, Horace and Pete’s, with C.K. writing, directing and starring. Among the myriad guest stars in the first episode, there’s The Sopranos alum Edie Falco, American Horror Story vet Jessica Lange, Rebecca Hall, Kurt Metzger, Steven Wright, SNL player Aidy Bryant and others.
Gentle awkwardness quickly spirals into full-blown tragicomedy. If the first episode is any indication, Horace and Pete is the next great show to get obsessed over-and Louis did it on his own.
This Web series written and directed by C.K. might be one of the most original offerings on TV right now. Once you get into it, it is utterly absorbing.
Like much of Louis C.K.'s TV work, Horace and Pete is a messy experiment that stays just on the good side of pretentiousness. But it's also probing, engaged and moving.
Louis CK is one of the greatest thinkers of this age. The genius is at work. Let's take a leap of faith and observe. We could be in the middle of something special.
This is an artist with a great deal of clout... - and he's using that cultural currency to challenge himself. It's worth a return visit to see where Horace and Pete will go from here.
It feels more like theater than television has anytime since the fabled 1950s, though an extended political debate attempts to nail it as up-to-the-minute. It's also an opportunity to watch great actors at play.
It's a comedy, mostly, sort of, but a comedy that aims to capture the shifting tones of real life, the pathos and the existential aches as much as the laughter and the absurdities.
