TV Talk: CBS starts a fire of controversy cutting off Billy Joel, reschedules show
After promoting “Billy Joel: The 100th at Madison Square Garden – The Greatest Arena Run of All Time” for weeks, CBS blundered nationally by cutting off the program mid-“Piano Man” to go to late local newscasts.
CBS released a statement saying, “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.”
— Billy Joel (@billyjoel) April 15, 2024
CBS said the program will re-air in its entirety at 9 p.m. Friday.
A CBS rep did not respond to a query if the blunder was caused by an automated control system.
In addition to the CBS rebroadcast, the program can be seen in its entirety on streaming service Paramount+.
“Billy Joel: The 100th” got a late start due to CBS’s coverage of the 2024 Masters Tournament. The special was filmed during Joel’s 100th consecutive performance at Madison Square Garden on March 28.
While there have been similar blunders in the interim, this latest debacle does call to mind one of the first examples of viewer-enraging network mistakes when NBC cut away from an NFL game in 1968 to air the movie “Heidi.”
Healey on WQED-TV
WQED-TV will televise the American Public Television-distributed film “Keeping the Flame” (10 p.m. April 16) about the life and work of human rights activist and Pittsburgh native Jack Healey.
Kept/canceled
Paramount+ renewed “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” for a fourth season ahead of its third season premiere in 2025; the upcoming fifth season of animated series “Star Trek: Lower Decks,” premiering this fall, will be the show’s last season.
Syndicated daytime chat show “Tamron Hall” has been renewed for a sixth season.
CBS’s daytime chatfest “The Talk” will end its 15-year run in December, presumably to make way for a new soap opera with a predominantly Black cast that CBS has been developing, “The Gates.”
CNN ended “King Charles” featuring Gayle King and Charles Barkley after a brief run.
Channel surfing
CBS is developing a reboot of its 2003-10 procedural “Cold Case” with new characters and this time set in the American Southwest instead of Philadelphia. … After breaking out last summer on Netflix, reruns of “Suits” will air in the fall on My Network TV, carried locally 12-2 a.m. weeknights on WPNT-TV’s Channel 22.2.
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