CBS has apologized for cutting off the last few minutes of Sunday night’s Billy Joel concert broadcast and now says it will re-air the show with the final minutes intact.
Viewers were furious that the show, Billy Joel: The 100th — Live at Madison Square Garden, abruptly ended just as the singer was belting out the final verse of his hit song “Piano Man.”
The broadcast, which was announced in Feb., was filmed on March 28 at Madison Square Garden and featured his 100th performance at the venue. But the celebration of Joel’s big night was overshadowed by CBS’s “mistake.”
Viewers in half the country from the Central and Eastern times zones were furious when the show cut to local news before Joel was finished singing his signature song.
Many took to social media to express their outrage:
Viewers throughout the Eastern and Central Time Zones had the broadcast of the Billy Joel concert cut off, mid-Piano Man.
Evidently, CBS was no longer in the mood for a melody. pic.twitter.com/bVlcIReRXn
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 15, 2024
🎶Sing us a half-song, you’re the Piano Man
Sing us a half-song tonight
Cause we all heard a part of a melody
And CBS producers aren’t bright 🎶#BillyJoelOnCBS #BillyJoel100 #BillyJoel
— Todd Chappelle (@ToddChappelle) April 15, 2024
CBS has been promoting the Billy Joel concert special every two minutes for WEEKS. So what better way to air it than to preempt it for a half hour and the cut him off MID-PIANO MAN? C'mon guys.
— Emily Gandolfo (@emilyrgandolfo) April 15, 2024
You couldn’t produce a worse product than CBS just did on the Billy Joel special
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
— Kevin Connelly (@KevinConnelly24) April 15, 2024
Hey @CBS wtf is this?! You cut off @billyjoel during Pianoman of all songs?! And then didn’t come back to it?!?! Now wonder network TV is a mess.
Not ballin, not ballin at all. pic.twitter.com/QBBxLZOABO— Gunz (@TheGunzShow) April 15, 2024
The next day, CBS offered an apology for the rude ending of the broadcast and blamed it all on a “network programming timing error,” according to USA Today.
“A network programming timing error ended last night’s Billy Joel special approximately two minutes early in the Eastern and Central Time Zones,” the network said in a statement.
The network went on to say that it will re-play the show and will include the missing minutes.
“We apologize to Mr. Joel, his fans, our affiliated stations, and our audience whose viewing experience was interrupted during the last song. Due to the overwhelming demand from his legion of fans, Billy Joel: The 100th — Live at Madison Square Garden will be rebroadcast in its entirety on CBS on April 19 at 9 p.m. ET/PT,” CBS added, The Hollywood Reporter wrote.
The ire over the ending of the was immediate. Fort Wayne, Indiana, news anchor Rex Smith even took to his X account to apologize to his own followers in the Midwestern state for seeing his face pop up right in the middle of Joel’s hit song.
I apologize to the people who were enjoying Billy Joel singing on TV then all of a sudden had to see my face. I’d have picked Billy Joel over me, too. I’m not even the Rex Smith who is the famous singer/actor ☹️
— Rex Smith (@Rex__Smith) April 15, 2024
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