As a "not ready for prime time" moment, this one ranked right up there.
Chuck Todd and Rachel Maddow had barely taken their places for Hour Two of the first Democratic debate when things went horribly wrong.
The wrong mics were on, strange voices seemed to pipe in from the great beyond, and a hugely important question about gun violence was repeated, to no avail, as the whole tableau of candidates onstage looked confused.
Todd called for a commercial break, and you could imagine remote controls around the country being picked up and live streams being abandoned throughout the land.