How Billy Joel’s Madison Square Garden Special Became Appointment Viewing — and Benefitted From an Accidental Early Cutoff: A Variety FYC Streaming Room Panel
variety.comChris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic When Billy Joel’s camp decided to commemorate his 100th show of a mega-residency at Madison Square Garden with a television special, the question arose of whether to go with a major streamer or a major broadcast network.
But there was little doubt in the end that they would go with the most populist possible pick, as the producers of “Billy Joel: The 100th Live at Madison Square Garden” explained in a panel discussion for the Variety FYC Streaming Room. “No one has ever sold out a hundred shows at Madison Square Garden, and I don’t think anybody ever will,” said Steve Cohen, a cohort of Joel’s for about 50 years who is one of the show’s executive producers. “It’s a unicorn event… (The) idea was, hey, if we don’t show this to people, the people in the Midwest or in St.
George, Utah, are not gonna know about this incredible achievement… We could have gone to Netflix or any of those other streamers and put this on there.
But we are all fans of old-school, Sunday night appointment television. And Billy is a man of the people, and it’s not bullshit.
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