Yes, bypassing the failed LED will allow the rest of the string to work. Depending on the diffusers used and the pattern of the lens over the LEDs, dead LEDs can be obvious or difficult to pick up. Since the back light driver board monitors current, it reduces the voltage to keep the drop across the remaining diodes within "safe" margins.

Unfortunately, these LED TVs drive the LED string well beyond the safe limit of the LEDs. Often, you'll find several LEDs already shorted in addition to the offending open one. In late model Samsungs, you'll find more shorted than working in many cases. Just did a 2012 46" that had 32 dead out of 44..

You can buy a metric ****load of LEDs out of China for cheap and replace the individual LEDs using a hot air station. Some companies offer a firmware upgrade which reduces the drive to the array. Adjusting the customer controls will achieve the same thing, but I've found that for many reasons, the customer adjustment ends up in default, and that means 100% for the back light setting. I modify the LED drive circuit to reduce the back light by 30 to 40 % at a maybe 10% or so decrease in brightness. No one complains and they don't come back.