The TV Critics Tour ground to a halt on the final network day - but the party wasn't over until the crazy old lady sang.
The crazy old lady in question was Cloris Leachman, who didn't actually sing, but was disruptive and rude and made a bad day much worse for the Fox Network.
If anything, it was fascinating to watch how the most popular American network dropped the ball. Fox probably had the strongest fall lineup of any network presenting at this summer TV Tour and they still put on the slickest promotional push, as they usually do, but it wasn't pretty.
First came the debacle of the American Idol non-announcement. Journalists had been lulled into the belief that Fox would reveal its replacement for Ellen DeGeneres on American Idol at its morning executive session. Local TV stations sent camera crews, expecting Fox to wheel out J-Lo or Harry Connick Jr. or Steven Tyler. It never happened.
Instead, Fox chairman Peter Rice and entertainment president Kevin Reilly came out and sheepishly admitted they were still weighing their options, and might have someone in place by mid-September. Neither would even commit that judges Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi would be around when Idol returns next January.
All Rice would allow: "Everyone we've discussed it with has a music-industry background." Well, stop the presses.
It set a sour tone for the lunch that immediately followed, which involved a reading by the voice cast of the Fox animated series American Dad, which is much like the animated series Family Guy, except dumber.
Creator Seth MacFarlane and eight voice actors sat on a stage and acted out the episode, set to air next December. The rambling plotline involved Santa Claus and the slaughter of thousands of elves. You could hear a pin drop in that room.
Soon after came Leachman - and as press sessions go, it was a car wreck. The 84-year-old Oscar-winner (for the 1971 feature The Last Picture Show) and Dancing with the Stars contestant plays a dotty granny in the new Fox comedy Raising Hope, one of the network's better shows on the fall lineup.
Of course Leachman was asked about the current appeal of Betty White, her former costar on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. All these old gals get along, right?
"I'm so sick of Betty White," snapped Leachman, baiting critics. "Never liked her."
Most people knew Leachman was kidding - she's costarring opposite White in the upcoming feature You Again - but nobody laughed. Then she got worse.
Leachman took over the show's press session and made everyone in the room feel uncomfortable.
Wearing slippers and a crazed expression, she forced her co-star Garret Dillahunt to switch seats with her. She talked about where she keeps her Oscar and nine Emmys at home. "If I don't get an Emmy for this show, I'm leaving," she said.
And whenever the attention slipped away from her, Leachman acted up. She interrupted frequently and answered questions directed at other people. She told reporters to stand up and state their names and media affiliation when asking questions. She accused Raising Hope star Martha Plimpton of sleeping with creator Greg Garcia. "Now you see why we work extra-long hours," said Garcia weakly.
And then things went downhill. The much-anticipated session for Glee turned out to be a non-event. The panel consisted of co-creator Ryan Murphy - who seemed in a rather surly mood - and five members of his production staff, including a choreographer and a wardrobe person. Fox couldn't coerce a single cast member of the hottest show on television to make an appearance?
A few Glee folk did, however, make it to the Fox party, which turned out to be the perfectly miserable ending to a forgettable day.
Normally the highlight of every TV Critics Tour, the Fox bash was held under grey skies and unseasonably cold conditions at a scary-clown amusement park on the Santa Monica Pier, right over the roiling ocean. It was like the setting of a Hammer horror film.
The event had fewer than half the partygoers of previous years, despite the fact there was more talent in attendance. Even the regular tourist traffic walking along the boardwalk wasn't paying attention.
The Glee cast milled around, but like the cast of Modern Family a few days before, most seemed to be wearying of the media glare. I saw Matthew Morrison, who plays Mr. Schuester, brush off several requests for interviews.
But for entertainment purposes there was always kooky old Cloris Leachman, who was still acting nutty in case we hadn't got the message earlier.
To get even more attention she strapped herself into a bungee-jumping rig and was jumping up and down on a trampoline, giddily whooping and yelling at the top of her lungs. At least one person was having a good time.
Airing tonight
Kate Plus Eight (TLC, 9 p.m.) is more or less the same show that Jon & Kate Plus Eight used to be, except without Jon. This new series is a form of damage control by TLC, who apparently intend to follow the newly single mom and her brood of eight kids for the rest of their natural lives. Tonight, Kate tries to plan a surprise birthday bash for the sextuplets, who are turning six. Cake is involved and everybody pretends nobody is filming the event. Those poor kids.
Criss Angel: Mindfreak (A&E, 10 p.m.) is the sixth-season premiere of the TV showcase for the unique talents of the scruffy illusionist-magician. To start the season with a bang, Angel attempts to jump across the Grand Canyon in a souped-up cycle car. In the green spirit, it's a hybrid vehicle.