Fox Was Down During 'Rent: Live' & Fans Were As Unhappy As Benny During Maureen's Protest

The nature of live television is that anything can happen — you just prepare as well as you can and hope for the best. Well, during Rent: Live, the worst for some happened, because viewers at home were not able to see the broadcast. That's, uh, DEFCON 1. Fox was down during Rent: Live and fans were not happy, to say the least.

A few minutes before the broadcast, Fox was frozen, and as its scheduled air time came and went, those opening chords of Rent were not sounding on many a television across America. The biggest musical event of the year, one that millions have been waiting on for months, and... bupkus. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero. About 10 minutes into the broadcast and halfway through the Rent: Live song "Rent," the picture came back for most. Viewers only missed a little of the Broadway spectacle, but still. The show was already marred by problems because Brennin Hunt, who plays Roger, broke his foot during the Saturday night dress rehearsal, meaning he couldn't perform as he was supposed to in the Sunday night broadcast. The directors pieced it all together, using the footage from Saturday during the live show, but first that, and now not being able to see the show at all?

Of course, Twitter had plenty to say.

Many Were Confused At First

Is it your TV? Is it my TV? What's happening?

Others Were Straight-Up Angry

This is must-see TV, which is hard when you can't see it.

And The Sarcasm Took Over

A natural defense mechanism.

Some Rubbed It In The Faces Of The Unfortunate

Not fair. At all.

One Looked On The Bright Side

Well, at least there's a bright side... maybe?

Once the broadcast actually, you know, started playing, it was fantastic — the circular set was ingenious, and it really let the actors bound up and down and back and forth to give it that live concert feel. The music was big, too, which was key for musical director Stephen Oremus, as he told The Hollywood Reporter, "The score is the score, but we're just enhancing it. We're doing it with a much larger orchestra than it had been presented prior. The original Rent band was five pieces and we're performing it with 23 musicians live. ... My hope is that we're delivering Rent, we're just delivering Rent on steroids." Making a live show feel live to people on the TV is hard, but production seems up for the challenge.

Oremus stressed to the publication that he wanted everything to feel a little more "epic" while still keeping to the original. "It really is just about honoring the score and the songs that we know and giving it a sound that matches how it's being presented visually," he said. With young, hot stars, a big stage, and modern touches, Rent: Live certainly is true to the original while kicking it up a notch — broken feet and major technical difficulties notwithstanding.