HOUSTON — Fans of the "Piano Man" who tuned in to the CBS taped concert special, "Billy Joel: The 100th - Live at Madison Square Garden," were listening to the performer's namesake song when the program suddenly cut to black.
A network programming timing error ended last night's Billy Joel special approximately two minutes early in the Eastern and Central Time Zones.
The concert was originally scheduled to start at 8 p.m. CST, but was pushed to just after 8:30 p.m. because of ongoing coverage of the Masters golf tournament.
CBS apologized to viewers in the following statement provided Monday afternoon and announced it would re-air the special Friday:
"A network programming timing error ended last night's Billy Joel special approximately two minutes early in the Eastern and Central Time Zones. 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 19th at 9:00PM ET/PT." (8 p.m. Houston time)
For fans who'd like to watch Joel's complete concert sooner — or just watch the grand finale of "Piano Man" — CBS posted the program on its website for free at CBS.com.
