CBS To Rebroadcast Billy Joel Concert After ‘Piano Man’ Debacle

Greg Evans
·3 min read
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CBS just announced that the network will rebroadcast Billy Joel: The 100th – Live at Madison Square Garden special in its entirety this Friday, April 19, after Sunday’s presentation cut out in some parts of the country as the singer was in the middle of his signature hit “Piano Man.”

“A network programming timing error ended last night’s Billy Joel special approximately two minutes early in the Eastern and Central Time Zones,” CBS said in a statement. “We apologize to Mr. Joel, his fans, our affiliated stations, and our audience whose viewing experience was interrupted during the last song.

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“Due to the overwhelming demand from his legion of fans,” the statement continues, “Billy Joel: The 100th – Live at Madison Square Garden will be rebroadcast in its entirety on CBS on April 19th at 9:00PM ET/PT.”

Sunday’s broadcast of the special in Eastern and Central zones cut away to local news at 11 p.m. shortly before the song’s final “la la la de de das.” The end came something like: “And the piano, it sounds like a carnival/And the microphone smells like a beer/And they sit at the…”

Billy Joel: The 100th – Live at Madison Square Garden special had started a half-hour late Sunday evening due to the 2024 Masters Tournament coverage running overtime.

Fans expressed their outrage on social media. “You couldn’t produce a worse product than CBS just did on the Billy Joel special,” tweeted one. “Way too many commercials, didn’t play some of his best songs, went extremely out of order in his set list, and then cuts away to the local news in the middle of Piano Man?!? A total flop by CBS.”

Wrote another, “@CBS You just might to re-schedule Billy Joel’s concert that your affiliates cut short to go to local late night news. We fans are not happy. And there are a lot of TV, etc viewing options other than you….You need to bring him back.”

And another: “Are you kidding me? I recorded it for 3 hours because I knew it was running late. They seriously cut to the news??? That’s terrible.”

Barstool Sports, which shared a clip of the truncated song, wrote, “How do you cut a Billy Joel Concert in the Middle of Piano Man?!”

Journalists from some of the affected TV stations apologized to viewers on X.

“As a man who grew up right next to Billy Joel’s hometown, who went to The Last Play at Shea, it was my duty to apologize to everyone about cutting off our telecast of Billy Joel tonight,” wrote Evan Closky, sports director of 10 Tampa Bay. “Not to get into the weeds, but there was a special report after the Masters and it wasn’t accounted for by the powers that be beyond this building.”

Said Rex Smith, anchor at Indiana’s WANE 15. “I apologize to the people who were enjoying Billy Joel singing on TV then all of a sudden had to see my face.”.

The concert was taped March 28 at Madison Square Garden to mark the 100th show in his long-running (and final) residency at his hometown venue.

In addition to the CBS rebroadcast, the concert special is available – in full – on Paramount+.

And in the unlikely case you can’t recall: “…bar and put bread in my jar/And say, “Man, what are you doin’ here?”

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