CBS cut short its showing of Billy Joel's historic 100th residency concert at New York City's Madison Square Garden -- enraging his fans and forcing the network to schedule a rerun.
Joel, 74, was performing his signature 1973 song "Piano Man" -- with audience members enthusiastically singing along -- when viewers in some parts of the country saw their TV screens briefly go dark before showing the late local news on Sunday night.
"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," one fan fumed on X, formerly Twitter.
Another viewer ranted, "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."
In a statement late Monday morning, CBS said it would rebroadcast Joel's entire concert on Friday, Deadline reported.
"A network programming timing error ended last night's Billy Joel special approximately two minutes early in the Eastern and Central Time Zones," CBS 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."
The epic fail followed CBS' earlier coverage of the Masters golf tournament, which ran past its scheduled five-hour broadcast.
Joel's concert was recorded March 28th as part of a record-breaking Madison Square Garden residency that began in January 2014.
He's scheduled to perform sold-out shows there on April 26, May 9 and June 8 before what's being billed as his final concert on July 25, according to his website.
His first concert at the Garden took place on Dec. 14, 1978, and the July show will mark his 150th there, according to People.
