Louis C.K., a figurehead for many millennials, recently learned how hard it is to change a decades-old system by taking an innovative risk.

The comedian independently released a 10-episode web series called “Horace and Pete” this past January, with the first episode costing $5, the second costing $2 and $3 for the rest on his website. C.K. revealed on “The Howard Stern Show” earlier this month that he had financed the show himself and assumed people buying the episodes would be enough to pay him back.

But despite vast critical acclaim and a 95 percent on RottenTomatoes, C.K. announced on the show that low sales have left him millions in debt and he cancelled the show as a result. C.K. explained on The Bill Simmons podcast on Friday that he plans on making his money back eventually by selling the series to a streaming service.

While the artistic components of “Horace and Pete” and C.K.’s full-on DIY approach were admirable, it was ludicrous for C.K. to think that an independent web series the size of “Horace and Pete” could be the huge success that C.K. wanted. The attempt is a cautionary tale of how hard it is to create a great show without network support. This isn’t only a matter of celebrities like C.K., experimenting, but brings to light a key issue for any young content creator trying to figure out how they can tell the stories they want to tell. What hope would a college student have if one of the most well-known comedians can’t find success independent of old media structures and influences?

Conceptually, “Horace and Pete” was smart television for its 21st century audience. Not only did it have a star-studded cast, but many of the actors hold a special place in the hearts of millennials. Indie film icon Steve Buscemi; Jessica Lange, the face of “American Horror Story;” and Alan Alda, whose appearance on “Broad City” even stole the spotlight from Hillary Clinton, all were featured in “Horace and Pete.”

With the force of an A-list cast, the show was determined to take on the relevant social issues that young people have been talking about: episodes feature lengthy discussions on the likes of Donald Trump, Cam Newton and trans* identity. The show tackled the issues on millennial minds in the way they would: with passionate debates at the forefront. And taking place in New York City, “Horace and Pete” tried to capitalize on a setting that TV shows popular among younger audiences like “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Sex and the City,” “30 Rock” and “Girls” have.

All of this content that targets millennials would have been a success through “Horace and Pete,” yet younger viewers did not turn up as expected. With each season costing $31 total, about 100,000 people would’ve had to buy the whole show to achieve the return C.K. was expecting — $2 million to $5 million that C.K. spent out of pocket. The overall success of “Horace and Pete” was beyond the audience’s control, but if young people ever wish to be free from structures like a reliance on network support, they must actively work against them.

With C.K. releasing the show without previous announcement or virtually no marketing, most people hadn’t heard of it until C.K. revealed its troubles. It is simply impractical to believe a web series like “Horace and Pete” could get to people without strategic marketing and targeted programming to make sure it gets in front of its intended viewers.

If every show creator makes the concessions of taking the input of studio’s higher-ups into consideration, it opens the show to being influenced by entities that may not have the show’s best interests at heart. Even networks, like Netflix and FX, who are praised for the creative freedom they give are going to draw the line somewhere. In spite of the artistic benefits that C.K. would have had at these outlets, he still felt bringing his show to any network would have compromised its integrity.

This is the fear that has compelled millennials to turn to other media, where the less restricted structures can’t hurt their artistic goals. But despite all the planning and speaking, really the only place where this DIY ethos has been realized successfully is in some podcasts, such as “Welcome to Night Vale.”

While “Horace and Pete” has failed, C.K. mentioned in the Simmons interview that the series was sort of an experiment to see how well a modern show could go without relying on the stability of already established networks.

There will be another show like “Horace and Pete” and millennials must finally decide if they’re ready to push the values of their generation to the next level. All the tools to create the purest television — and art in general — will be useless if no one picks them up.

Mark DiBona is a senior television, radio and film major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at mdibona@syr.edu and followed on Twitter @NoPartyNoDisco.

Published on April 26, 2016 at 10:58 pm