Netflix goes down on Christmas Eve: 9 panicked reactions

The company's streaming service temporarily fails, and thousands of horrified Americans have to actually interact with their families

Netflix went down on Christmas Eve — and customers FREAKED OUT.
(Image credit: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Netflix)

On Christmas Eve, thousands of users said "Bah, humbug" to Netflix as an unplanned service outage shut down the company’s extremely popular "watch instantly" service, forcing thousands of Americans to face the unimaginable unpleasantness of actually talking to their families. (The service has since been restored.) Netflix was quick to react, tweeting an apology and assuring subscribers that the Netflix team was working on solving the problem — but that didn't stop the horrified reactions from pouring in:

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Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.