Elton John and Freddie Mercury may have got the Hollywood treatment with biopics depicting their lives this year, but for Billy Joel’s songbook, an entire television series is needed. It was reported recently that a Billy Joel anthology series is in the works. ‘Scenes From an Italian Restaurant’ will use Joel’s entire song catalog as the basis of the show.
Unlike the recent rock biopics that have come out, ‘Scenes From an Italian Restaurant’ will not be a biopic about Billy Joel’s life. Instead, the television series will use the stories told in Joel’s songs to create the plot of each episode. Characters to be featured in the new series include the Stranger, the Piano Man, Mamma Leone and Sgt. O'Leary.
“Billy Joel is a beautiful storyteller, and it just so happens that his stories are accompanied alongside remarkable songs. This series is going to focus less on Billy's life and more on the stories inside his catalog of classic songs," said MGM TV's president of development and production, Steve Stark. It is unknown at this time if Joel will appear in the series.
Based on fan reaction, most are exciting to get a glimpse of this different new series. Billy Joel may not have wanted to do a biopic, as he stated earlier this year, but his songs definitely deserve their own story. A release date has not been announced at this time, so for the time being, fans will just have to go back and listen to the entire Billy Joel catalog to prepare.