After multiple delays, the Love Is Blind live reunion special wasn’t live after all.
Sarah Lord Associate Writer
Sarah Lord covers TVs and home entertainment. Prior to joining CNET, Sarah served as the tech and electronic reviews fellow at Insider, where she wrote about everything from smart watches and wearables to tablets and e-readers. She began her career by writing laptop reviews as an intern and subsequent freelancer at Tom’s Hardware. She is also a professional actor with many credits in theater, film and television.
Expertise TVs, Home Entertainment, Streaming, Computers Credentials
- Member of Screen Actors Guild and Actors Equity Association
For weeks, Netflix had been advertising its live Love is Blind reunion special. The fourth season of the popular reality TV series was one of the most drama-filled seasons of the franchise thus far, and fans were eagerly awaiting the reunion special, which would have been Netflix’s second-ever live event. Instead of getting answers to their burning questions, Netflix subscribers were left with multiple delays, a social media apology and a live special that wasn’t live at all.
The Love Is Blind season 4 reunion special was supposed to air live at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, but people that tuned in were greeted with a message saying the show was delayed and would start soon. Netflix then released a statement on Twitter just before 9:30 p.m. ET apologizing that the special “did not turn out as planned.” Netflix ended up recording the special and said it would be released on the streaming service on Monday.
The company hasn’t given a reason for the delay. Netflix did not immediately respond to CNET’s request for comment.
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. We’re filming it now and we’ll have it on Netflix as soon as humanly possible. Again, thank you and…
— Netflix (@netflix) April 17, 2023
The Love is Blind mishap is another frustration for Netflix subscribers who are facing higher prices and a password crackdown. Netflix is expected to roll out its password sharing ban in the US later this year, and will charge people a fee for “extra member” subaccounts when people outside their household use the same membership.
Netflix’s difficulty with live TV also underscores the company’s reluctance to invest in live programing. Many streaming services, including Paramount Plus, Peacock and Hulu have all doubled down on their live offerings, the majority of which come in the form of live sports. Netflix has invested heavily in sports programming, but none of it is live. Instead, they’ve built upon the success of the behind-the-scenes documentary series F1: Drive to Survive and created a plethora of similarly themed documentaries focusing on niche professional sports, such as golf and tennis.
Netflix chose a comedy special as its first foray into live programming. Chris Rock’s March 4 special, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, garnered mixed reviews for its content, but aired live without a hitch.
Netflix has been looking to expand its live programing for over a year, according to Deadline. The company reportedly explored adding live voting to its unscripted competition series to bring those shows in line with popular series on other networks, such as Dancing with the Stars on Disney Plus.
Netflix could offer details about why the Love Is Blind reunion wasn’t live, along with other information about its business and new features for subscribers, when it releases its next earnings report on Tuesday.
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Sarah Lord