It was a dark and stormy night in Washington for the July 4 festivities. Perfect for another DC scandal.

Rain had fallen and was threatening to continue on and off all day. It was a misty, overcast evening. If you watched PBS’ annual “A Capitol Fourth” show, live from the West Lawn of the Capitol grounds, you saw people wearing plastic ponchos as they waved flags and listened to host Tom Bergeron introduce the musical guests.

“Only in D.C. could a PBS show become a scandal,” said one person.

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Watching the show, you also saw strange footage. At the start, before the sun had set, some shots of smiling kids showed a clear blue twilight sky in the background; some showed the looming dark clouds.

And then, when the fireworks display started, things really looked weird. Some shots showed a misty, nearly un-viewable fireworks display near the Lincoln Memorial. Other camera shots pulled back to show a clear beautiful night with glorious July 4 fireworks — shots which turned out to be from previous years’ shows.

Hundreds of fans began calling PBS out on Twitter, accusing them of cheating fans by putting in fake, stock footage.

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As one noted: “Only in D.C. could a PBS show become a scandal.” Others said PBS should “be ashamed.” And still other, really loyal PBS fans, said they felt “personally victimized.”

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One clue that gave PBS away is the fact that the Capitol building has scaffolding around it as renovations are being done.

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PBS admitted to the fakery, tweeting from its account: “We showed a combination of the best fireworks from this year and previous years. It was the patriotic thing to do.”

Patriotic?

Four hours later, they issued a full-blown apology, saying they were sorry for “any confusion” it might have caused.

That didn’t stop the outrage over the fact that PBS wasn’t clear about it with viewers, dubbing Public Broadcasting the “Milli Vanilli of fireworks” and saying overall it was “not cool.” Others vowed not to tune in again.

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Meanwhile, in New York, the Macy’s fireworks show was truly “spectacular,” lasting 30 minutes on the East River in a dazzling show that was not dampened by a few rain sprinkles.