Billy Joel fans are eagerly waiting to find out if Davy is still in the Navy. During a broadcast special of the singer’s performance at Madison Square Garden, the show was unexpectedly cut off in most time zones. This unfortunate incident occurred right in the middle of his climactic rendition of his signature hit, “Piano Man.” However, thanks to the public’s outcry, CBS has responded by committing to re-air the entire program on Friday night.
The network issued a statement on Monday morning addressing the widespread reports of viewer dissatisfaction regarding the Billy Joel special. They acknowledged that a timing error in the network programming caused the special to end approximately two minutes early in the Eastern and Central Time Zones. The network apologized to Billy Joel, his fans, their affiliated stations, and the audience whose viewing experience was interrupted during the last song. In response to the overwhelming demand from his devoted fans, the special, “Billy Joel: The 100th — Live at Madison Square Garden,” will be rebroadcast in its entirety on CBS on April 19th at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
CBS is addressing the viewer anger by airing a make-good rerun, which also gives them an opportunity to re-air a special that has garnered significant viewer interest. (Ratings for the Sunday premiere are still pending at the time of writing.)
The show began half an hour later than scheduled in the eastern and central time zones due to the Masters Tournament broadcast running longer than expected. While CBS has not provided a specific explanation for the Joel special’s delayed finish, it appears that the decision was made to prioritize local news time for some affiliates. Perhaps someone decided that skipping the part of “Piano Man” where Joel sings about the microphone smelling like a beer and people putting bread in his jar would not be missed.
Even some local newscasters found themselves in the position of apologizing to Joel fans upset to see their faces instead of the singer’s. This was definitely not a situation where they “got us feelin’ alright.”
In the TV special, “Piano Man” was featured as the final song, even though it wasn’t the last one performed by Joel at the Madison Square Garden concert that was recorded. In the original MSG show, the encore included “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” “Uptown Girl,” “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me,” and “Big Shot” after “Piano Man.” However, for the two-hour special, three of these songs were omitted, and “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” was moved ahead of “Piano Man.” So, viewers may not have missed as much of the special as they initially thought. However, losing the last two minutes of Joel’s first major hit was still disappointing for many, as they didn’t expect a cliffhanger ending like in “The Sopranos.”
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