Louis C.K., the creator, writer, director, producer and star of the surprise web series, announced on Saturday morning in a newsletter to fans that the show’s tenth episode, released on April 2, was also its final.
“That was it. I didn’t want to say in the last email that it was the last episode because I didn’t want you to know, as you watched the episode, that it would be the last one. But yeah, obviously, that was it,” he wrote.
The online series, which co-starred Steve Buscemi as Pete to C.K.’s Horace — brothers and bar owners — launched on Jan. 30 exclusively on C.K.’s website, LouisCK.net. Alan Alda, Edie Falco and Jessica Lange also appeared in the drama. The first episode was available for $5, the second for $2 and the rest for $3 each. The full season can now be purchased for $31, C.K. wrote.
“I chose to do the show this way, knowing that it would be a quiet and strange experiment and that only a few of us would take part in this stage of it, that has just ended,” he continued in the email.
Although it’s been a hit with critics, the project was a huge gamble for C.K., which hasn’t quite paid off. The comedian told Howard Stern this week that he lost “millions of dollars” after self-producing and distributing the drama.
“I got so excited about having the show appear from nothing. So I made the first four, and I didn’t tell nobody and it made a nice little amount of money. When I got to episode four, I was like, ‘Hey gang, I don’t have any money.’ So I had to take out a line of credit,” he said on the radio show, noting that each episode costs about $500,000 to make.
He also told Stern that he believes the show will pay itself off by the summer.
C.K., who hasn’t done much promotion for “Horace and Pete,” promised to now spread the word.
“Now I’ll go and tell the world about it, and ask them to come see what we made. I’m excited because I’ve been dying to talk about it. It was so fun and so goddam weird, what I just went through. And it continues to be so,” he wrote.
C.K. submitted the series for Emmy consideration as a drama.
