Louis CK just trolled us all.
This show was made to be unlikable. That is it's intention; to be disliked. Louis CK has become known for the bleakness of his side projects, and with this show has created something so depressing and devoid of any pleasure, only someone blinded by his status as a comedy legend would ever say they like it.
He let it slip in the second season of Louie that he yearns to make the darkest story ever (in the episode he meets with a film executive for lunch and pitches what essentially will form into Horace and Pete's). Now he has brought his nightmare to reality, and I'm thinking he's the only one laughing about any of this. It must have taken all his strength not to end the show with Falco's doctor showing up at the bar to deliver the news her cancer is back. That would have been too obvious.
What is this show if it isn't a joke on us all? It isn't a character study. Nobody changes for the better. Sure, we almost get something with the sex change discussion, but nothing ever comes of that. Just because it's unrelentingly depressing doesn't make it a drama, and it sure isn't a comedy. It sure to hell is not a look at mental illness (Pete's illness is never even named!). It's not about grief, it's not about letting go, it's not about beating cancer. The closest I can come to labeling what this show is is calling it a slice of life. A slice of life in a grimy dive bar that's worth more closed than open, and the staff and patrons are just barely holding on. What a masterpiece.
CK got exactly what he wanted. He made an unlikable show that people are calling genius. I'm glad if you liked it (or just say you do), but I suspect the man is having a long laugh at your expense. To clarify, I hated Horace and Pete's. But then again, that was the plan all along.