CBS Love Island season 1 cast
The COVID-19 pandemic shut down television production worldwide back in March. CBS’ slate of reality TV is just one of the hundreds of productions put on hold. With The Amazing Race being pushed back to fall 2020, what’s going to happen with Love Island, which was slated to air summer 2020?
Here is what we know the second season of the popular reality dating competition series.
CBS Is ‘Hopeful’ Love Island Will Air This Summer
First off, Love Island is not canceled. It was originally supposed to begin airing its second season on Thursday, May 21, but when production was halted before filming even started, it had to be pushed back to an unknown date.
However, CBS recently revealed its fall schedule, which has Survivor slotted into Wednesday nights in the fall. That raises the question of whether they can get the popular reality show back into production in time to air a fall season. CBS President Kelly Kahl told Deadline that not only do they think they can get Survivor on the air in the fall, but the network is “hopeful” to get summer shows Big Brother and Love Island on the air soon.
“With Love Island and Big Brother, we still hope to have them on the air this summer, it could be a little later than usual, but we’re still optimistic about getting those on,” CBS Entertainment President Kelly Kahl told Deadline. “Those shows turn around pretty quickly. Big Brother has live shows every week and Love Island literally airs the night after it shoots, those shows do not have long post processes.”
Where Will It Film?
The first season of Love Island was filmed in Fiji, but CBS and ITV Entertainment are exploring some domestic options due to international travel possibly still being prohibited this summer. A domestic locale might make it easier to begin production sooner. ITV America CEO David George told Deadline that they’re getting everything ready for when they get the green light and that episodes are turned around for air in less than 48 hours.
“Once the switch is turned on, we can get it to air very quickly,” said George. “We’re trying to get it as ready as possible so when [CBS] says ‘go’, we’re ready, location-wise, build-outs, casting.”
Other Scheduling Possibilities
If CBS can’t get Love Island and Big Brother up and running this summer, there is also the chance they air in the fall. Scripted television production has also been halted and those shows take much longer to produce per episode than the aforementioned reality shows, so if CBS can’t get them going in the summer, they might want them for the fall schedule.
As of right now, CBS has announced a full fall slate, but it remains to be seen if they can get all of their shows into production in time for the usual late September premieres. As it stands, Survivor, The Amazing Race and Seal Team are slotted in to air on Wednesday nights, in that order, between 8 and 11 p.m. ET/PT.