Sing us the whole song, Piano Man: Why Billy Joel was cut off
Q: I don’t understand why the recent Billy Joel concert special ended with him only halfway through “Piano Man,” especially since that is his signature song. What happened? – Paul Stafford, Joliet, Ill.
A: The problem — which affected CBS stations in the Eastern half of the U.S. — involved that day’s overrun of coverage of the Masters golf tournament. That went over by roughly a half-hour, which pushed the network’s prime-time schedule (also involving episodes of “60 Minutes” and “Tracker”) later by the same amount of time. However, when the computer that feeds network programming to stations was adjusted for the delayed time, the adjustment was a couple of minutes short … which sent the network into a dark screen and triggered the stations to start their late local news. Thus, it wasn’t the fault of those affiliates, many of which reportedly fielded calls from viewers who wondered what had happened. A lot of the audience also took to social media to voice their discontent over the situation, and ultimately, CBS did the only thing it could do to make things right, by scheduling a repeat of the entire special (including the full version of “Piano Man”) several nights later. In the interim, viewers could watch the whole special on Paramount+. Those on the West Coast weren’t impacted by the matter, since the live Masters coverage ended three hours earlier there, and the CBS primetime lineup ran as it normally would without any time delay.
Q: I enjoyed seeing “The Pink Panther” during the recent tribute to composer Henry Mancini on Turner Classic Movies. How many films in the “Pink Panther” series did Peter Sellers make? – Ann Hoffman, via e-mail
A: After “The Pink Panther” in 1963, Sellers returned as comically inept Inspector Jacques Clouseau in “A Shot in the Dark” (1964), “The Return of the Pink Panther” (1975), “The Pink Panther Strikes Again” (1976) and “Revenge of the Pink Panther” (1978). Sellers died in 1980, but director Blake Edwards kept the concept going with “Trail of the Pink Panther” (1982) — which integrated footage of Sellers — as well as “Curse of the Pink Panther” (1983) and “Son of the Pink Panther” (1993). Clouseau movies with other actors in the role have included Alan Arkin’s turn in “Inspector Clouseau” (1968) and Steve Martin’s portrayal in “The Pink Panther” (2006) and “The Pink Panther 2” (2009). Those pictures didn’t involve filmmaker Edwards beyond crediting him with co-creating (with Maurice Richlin) the Clouseau character.