Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty
On Sunday night, CBS aired the highly anticipated Billy Joel concert special The 100th – Live At Madison Square Garden, a special documenting the 100th night of Joel’s Madison Square Garden residency.
While the concert special was airing, CBS made the mistake of cutting away to the local news during a pivotal part of the concert, the part where Joel performs his iconic ballad “Piano Man”.
Viewers were furious when the concert was cut off unexpectedly. One person wrote on X that “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.”
CBS acknowledged their mistake, issuing a statement and apology Monday afternoon and said it would re-air the concert, in its entirety, on Friday, April 19 at 8 p.m.
“A network programming timing error ended last night’s Billy Joel special approximately two minutes early in the Eastern and Central Time Zones,” said the statement from the network. “We apologize to Mr. Joel, his fans, our affiliated stations, and our audience whose viewing experience was interrupted during the last song. Due to 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 19th at 8:00PM CST.”
