Netflix just learned that live TV is hard—but also proved that it still matters

On Sunday evening, fans of the hit reality series Love Is Blind sat perched on their couches with their freshly poured glasses of Cab Sav and salty bowls of popcorn. Netflix’s second live-streaming event, the LIB reunion show, was set to start streaming at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET.

But excited viewers—including me—ended up doing nothing more than snacking (and drinking) for 75 minutes while staring at the waiting-room screen. Honestly, it couldn’t have been more of a buzzkill.

Those who were questioning their own technological abilities (Did I get the time wrong? Is my TV broken?) cruised on over to social media, where the Love Is Blind account showed the very same screen. Commenters were unhinged as they waited, making rapid-fire jokes and crafting hilarious memes about the streaming giant’s blunder.

Eventually, Netflix acknowledged there was a technical difficulty. “Love is late, but it will be worth the wait,” the message read. But viewers kept right on waiting and waiting and waiting before the live stream was ultimately canceled. Oof.

Netflix took to Twitter to address the situation and let everyone know they’d still be able to watch the show, but it would no longer be live. “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,” the streaming giant posted. “We’re filming it now and we’ll have it on Netflix as soon as humanly possible. Again, thank you and sorry.”

After nearly an hour and a half, viewers were finally able to tune in. While the highly anticipated event was undoubtedly frustrating for fans—not to mention a huge waste of their time—it marked an embarrassing setback for Netflix, a company whose far-reaching technological prowess disrupted an entire industry. The reunion show was only the platform’s second live event, the first being Chris Rock’s comedy special, which went off without a hitch in March. That special made it into Netflix’s top 10 chart. The reunion show, on the other hand, wasn’t just a little glitchy or slow to begin. It was a total disaster that no one seemed to anticipate. 

Reached for comment about what went wrong on Sunday, Netflix directed Fast Company to its tweet.

 

Netflix had long resisted live-streaming, even as competing platforms forged ahead. Amazon Prime, for instance, started airing Thursday Night Football last year, and Apple TV+ partners with Major League Baseball. Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos has repeatedly said that there’s not a “profit path to renting big sports.” But after losing over a million subscribers in the first half of 2022, it decided to make the leap to live-streaming, albeit not for sports.

It’s definitely a throwback to the days when you raced to the couch to catch your favorite show. But for events like comedy shows and reunion specials, the approach makes a lot of sense. It’s a more unfiltered experience than a recorded and highly edited special. So even if you can still watch the show at a later date and don’t really need to be there for the live event, it feels extra exciting to be a part of the show while it’s happening in real time.

Of course, not everyone agrees. Blockbuster seized the opportunity to hint that we’ve moved in the wrong direction when it comes to our viewing options. “Remember rending vhs’ from us,” it tweeted. “You could start it on time… no problem. This is what we get.”

Netflix hasn’t addressed exactly what went wrong from a technical standpoint. But it will presumably go to great lengths to keep an issue like this from arising again. While we don’t know what’s coming up next for the company’s live-streaming plans, it’s already snagged the rights to stream the Screen Actors Guild Awards starting in 2024, with more events likely to come.

While last night was an epic letdown, if anything was made clear by all the frustration, it was that we still get excited about watching something in real time like it’s 1993.