Netflix Struggles With The Basics With Botched ‘Love Is Blind’ Live Reunion Episode

I did not quite understand why Netflix was bothering with a live event for its Love is Blind season 4 reunion episode. I guess it’s the “anything can happen,” unfiltered vibe you want to go for with live TV. Well, anything did happen, and the thing that happened was Netflix botched the event and fans who had gathered for the show waited hours only for it to ultimately be cancelled by 9:30 PM, an hour and a half after another tweet promising it would be “worth the wait.”

As of 9 AM Monday morning, the reunion episode of Love is Blind is still not online. But it was a bizarre situation last night, as at least some viewers seemed to be able to get past Netflix’s technical issues and finagle with their app until it showed them the live show. But only a small portion of the audience managed to do that, and it was a night of frustration and internet memes.

Netflix has perilously little experience with live TV. This level of problem did not exist when Chris Rock recorded his live comedy special a few months ago, but it seems likely that live demand for Love is Blind far exceeded the airing of that show, given its popularity. It’s the only reality series Netflix has that routinely hits #1 in the Top 10 list in the US when new batches of episodes are dropped. By coming out with episodes week-to-week, its really the closest Netflix gets to a traditional broadcast model to get people talking about the latest developments each weekend, and they thought they’d try to go a step further with the live show here.

In reality, it probably does not matter if the show had been recorded earlier and then was simply aired unedited that night, likely sidestepping most of those problems. After this, it feels like Netflix may be hesitant to do something like this again, as the risk may not be worth the benefit if you could just pick a specific time to show the episode anyway. Instead, they blew their big night and the only thing people are talking about this morning is the disaster that it was, and that it’s still not online yet.

As for Love is Blind, expect this to be Netflix’s Bachelor/Bachelorette and air essentially endlessly, with twists here and there on the formula. It’s cheap, it’s highly watched, it’s a hit. They have jammed in four seasons of the show since February 2020, just over three years ago. The “pod” formula may have been born of the pandemic, but it will likely remain.

As for the reunion well uh, I guess we’ll eventually see if it’s worth the wait. But nothing is worth this much waiting, I’d say.

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