CBS cut Billy Joels televised concert during Piano Man
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It’s nine o’clock on a Sunday night, and the Billy Joel fans tune in. But thanks to the golf Masters, CBS delays the MSG concert, for yet another 30 or so min. Then to add full insult to injury, CBS abruptly cut off the show. Joel was still singing “Piano Man,” but all we got was an anchorman, and people united to say NO! La, la, la, de, de, da. La, la, la, de, de, da, da, da. [G7 to C major to G major] Stream us a show, like you promised us! Stream us a show, CBS. For we’re all in some need of a reverie, and you’ve got us feeling upset.
Or, here’s how the NY Post reported it:
They had been waiting for the longest time.
During a televised Billy Joel concert on Sunday night, enraged fans slammed CBS for cutting it off in the middle of one of the hitmaker’s most popular songs.
CBS was broadcasting the 100th concert of Joel’s residency at Madison Square Garden.
It was slightly delayed due to the network’s coverage of the Masters golf tournament, which caused the snafu later.
“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,” one fan posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Another fan slammed the network, “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.”
A third viewer marveled, “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.”
“Wow. CBS cut off the Billy Joel concert special to start their affiliates’ local new broadcasts… In the middle of “Piano Man.” Someone royally screwed up. That’s an embarrassment,” another viewer said.
Even the local news anchors got in on it, once they realized what happened. Rex Smith, a local anchor at a CBS affiliate WANE 15 in Fort Wayne, posted, “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.”
“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,” Evan Closky, sports director of 10 Tampa Bay, said on X.
“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.
Despite the explanation, viewers were not having it.
“CBS touts the Billy Joel concert endlessly for weeks. Then because the Masters ran over they start it 30 min late and cut off the end of the concert right in the middle of Piano Man. Are you F–KING KIDDING???” another person fumed.
That’s right, it ain’t ballin. It ain’t ballin at all!! Sports ruin everything!! That may be going too far, but there must be a workable solution out there to the decades-long problem of live games preempting other programming. Surely there’s space for them to coexist across the many channels, apps, streamers that make up the 21st century television landscape. I do hope there was at least one person in the control room yelling at his coworkers, “You’re gonna cut off Billy Joel on ‘PIANO MAN?!’” At least we had local newsmen Rick Smith and Evan Closky who knew how to respond in real time. Props to each of them for their fast-acting, self-deprecating apologies. They were sharing their tweets they call loneliness, but it’s better than— oh good grief I’m gonna have the song stuck in my head all day, aren’t I?
Note by CB: CBS is re-airing the special on April 19th, without interruption! See Billy Joel’s tweet below.
— Billy Joel (@billyjoel) 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
LIVE TV AYE??…CBS JUST DID this..to Billy Joel ON Piano Man at the main part of the song pic.twitter.com/GzpS8m83k6
— DORTIE (@TonyDortie) April 15, 2024
Photos credit: Robert Bell/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images, Getty
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