“Love is Blind” (Netflix photo)
April 17, 2023
Netflix late Sunday apologized to subscribers who tried to live-stream a special re-union show for Season 4 of its popular reality show, “Love is Blind.”
The special, which sought to update fans of the show with the particulars of cast members’ current relationship status, never got off the ground due to technical difficulties — leaving fans of the show waiting 90 minutes for an official communication about the delay. The show was Netflix’s second live-stream event following last month’s Chris Rock standup comedy routine, which went off without incident.
“To everyone who stayed up late, woke up early, gave up their Sunday afternoon… we are incredibly sorry that the ‘Love is Blind Live Reunion’ did not turn out as we had planned,” Netflix said in a statement on its social media page. “We’re filming it now and we’ll have it on Netflix as soon as humanly possible. Again, thank you and sorry.’
Indeed, the streamer made a taped version of the special available on its site April 17 at 12 p.m.
But that didn’t stop social media observers and media pundits from raining on Netflix, with some questioning whether the platform was up to the task of live-streaming sports, an odd query considering Netflix has heretofore expressed zero interest in live sports.
“Netflix resorting back to mailing out DVD copies of the ‘LIVE reunion,’” snarked one observer on social media.
“A huge disaster for Netflix,” remarked Felix Gillette with Bloomberg News on a webcast.
While the live-stream event continues Netflix’s cautious approach to the distribution channel, Gillette wondered if the tech snafu would make advertisers question advertising on the platform, and whether sports leagues might second guess live-streaming competitions on the service in the future.
“This is not a great start,” he said.