Billy Joel CBS Gaff Is Not Their 1st Black Eye
You would think that after the now famous Billy Joel CBS Gaff Sunday night, they would have fixed this reoccuring problem with a sports event causing delays. Wait, what do you mean, reoccuring problem?
It’s true. The Sunday night national nightmare of cutting Billy Joel’s iconic 100th Madison Square Garden show short, was not the first time that CBS Television, showed the world they can’t tell time. What’s worse, they did it during Billy’s iconic live performance of Piano Man. But first, let’s see how we got here.
Billy Joel 100th Madison Square Garden Show
On March 28th, Billy Joel performed his 100th show as part of his on going residency at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York.
Way back in December 2013, Billy Joel joined the storied ranks of The New York Knicks and The Rangers. He became a franchise of Madison Square Garden, commiting to playing one show every single month! In 2014, history was in the making. It’s ten years later, and Billy will wrap up this iconic residency this year, in July. Basically, 2024 is the year, of Billy Joel.
According to MSG.com, Billy says:
“When this franchise run at Madison Square Garden began in January 2014, I said I’d play one show a month ‘as long as the demand continues.’ I never imagined I’d still be playing one show a month 10 years later – it’s a testament to my amazing fans, and the 1.6 million people from around the world who have already been part of this historic residency. If you do the math, Billy will end this iconic run with 150 lifetime shows, 100, for this residency. He truly is the MSG house band. If you don’t believe me, Google “Billy Joel’s house.”
CBS Issues Apology for Billy Joel CBS Gaff
Earlier this year, CBS agreed to record Billy’s 100th show on March 28th. With heavy pre-promotion, they aired it this past Sunday night, April 14th. There was only one problem. The show before ran too long. CBS coverage of the Masters Golf Tournament went over it’s allotted time, pushing everything ahead for about 2 minutes. CBS News issued an apology late Monday afternoon:
“A network programming timing error ended last night’s Billy Joel special approximately two minutes early in the Eastern and Central Time Zones,” Julie Holland, CBS’s Vice President of Communications, said in a statement. “We apologize to Mr. Joel, his fans, our affiliated stations, and our audience whose viewing experience was interrupted during the last song.”
This mistake is a payoff for fans that missed it, or could not record it. Because of the Billy Joel CBS gaff, Joel’s performance, filmed on March 28, will air again in its entirety on April 19 at 9 p.m. ET, CBS said on Monday. Fans can also watch Joel’s performance on Paramount+.
Billy Joel CBS Gaff Is Not Their First Black Eye
You would think that after the now famous Billy Joel CBS gaff Sunday night, they would have fixed this reoccuring problem with a sports event causing delays. Famously, back in 1987, then CBS anchor Dan Rather stormed OFF the set moments before his LIVE CBS Evening News report, causing SIX minutes of dead air. The reason? There was confusion about how when the sports broadcast of the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament airing before The CBS Evening News With Dan Rather, would end.
Rather, the managing editor of the broadcast was not told that his show was being cut short because of tennis. He stormed off the set right before the 6:30 airing to call the head of the network to demand that his show air on time, or he would not be in the anchor chair for his LIVE from Miami report, of the Pope. Rather was successful in getting SOME of his time back, but not enough.
CBS Sports New York still needed two minutes of ‘Evening News’ time to end the tennis coverage.
Within moments, at just after 6:32 p.m., CBS Sports went off the air, and the network switched to Miami for what it thought would be Rather and the ‘Evening News,’ but Rather was not there and, for six minutes, the network was ‘black’ — an unprecedented event according to CBS members, The Times said.
Dan Rather, in an interview years later, shares why he left the set to call New York. The remote studio in Miami was filled with guests, and it was not an appropiate place to fight for his time back on the phone with New York. His news show was on the verge of claming back his #1 news slot in the ratings that very week. Rather felt getting cut off for tennis, would risk that come back. He shares his side of the story.