Welcome, friends, to another episode of “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up.”

On the night of Nov. 28, NBC presented its annual two-hour Christmas tree-lighting show from Rockefeller Center. It’s a show that, naturally, builds to the switch being flipped on the 30,000 lights attached to the giant spruce – this year’s an 84-footer – as thousands gather in front of the tree and hundreds of thousands in front of their TV sets. Of course, nothing much really mattered prior to that live shot; that was the one and only moment that had to be shown and seen.

But as Al Roker counted it down, “Ten! Nine, Eight. . .” NBC decided to get fancy. Many TV folks, after all, have some Dr. Frankenstein in them; they often endeavor to prove that advancements in technology hardly ensure the intelligent application of the technology.

As Roker counted down, NBC’s director got aerobic. We were flashed here and there – to Roker, to Mayor Bloomberg, to Tony Bennett and even to a shot of the tree, still dark and unlighted. But NBC next cut from the tree and didn’t return us to it until after Roker had hollered, “Three! Two! One! Zero!”

We weren’t again shown the tree until after it’s 30,000 lights had been turned on!

The one live shot that NBC could not have possibly missed, the one shot the entire telecast was predicated upon, was the shot NBC missed! We never saw the tree go from dark to light! When it reappeared on NBC, the tree was already in full glow!

Having covered TVs coverage of sports for The Post since 1981, I was under the impression that such mind-blowing decisions were only found within live sports telecasts. But Nov. 28’s can’t-miss but can’t-see tree-lighting is now entered into the annals of all-time doozies that include:

ABC’s live coverage of the 1992 Indianapolis 500, the closest finish in the race’s history. But as Al Unser, Jr. nosed out Scott Goodyear by 0.043 of a second, ABC abandoned the finish line in favor of a live shot of the fellow waving the checkered! America was treated to the sight of that man watching the closest finish in the history of the Indy 500.

In 1996, ABC again could not have asked for a better ending, only to botch it. The Kentucky Derby ended too close to call, Grindstone and Cavonier hitting the finish line at roughly the same instant. Photo finish. Hundreds of thousands of viewers, many with wagers on the race, eagerly and anxiously awaited that photo.

But ABC cut to a block of commercials. When the audience was returned to Churchill Downs, Grindstone already had been declared the winner.

The ABC audience, having watched ABC’s exclusive coverage of the 1996 Kentucky Derby, became the last to know.

Two years ago, ABC stumbled upon a rare find – a major player-to-player hassle in a PGA event. Rory Sabbatini, a tempestuous sort, was paired with Ben Crane, a painfully slow player, when on the 17th green, Sabbatini, fed up with Crane, putted out of order, putted out, then stormed off the green before Crane had even struck his first putt.

In a stunning dismissal of golf etiquette, war had been declared.

Sabbatini then hit his drive on 18 before Crane, who had “honors,” had even arrived at the tee. Good gosh, what would happen after they completed 18? Would they shake hands, as is the custom, ignore each other, or slug each other?

Among those who wondered aloud was ABC commentator Paul Azinger. Oh, yeah, a must-see, can’t-miss moment was approaching.

But when they finished 18, round over, ABC cut to a crowd shot – a live shot of the crowd intently watching what ABC couldn’t possibly have allowed its live audience to miss. Except it did.

Can’t make this stuff up. Turned out the two exchanged a brief, cold handshake then went their very separate ways. But had they punched each other’s lights out, we’d have been left in the same place – in the dark – as we were the other night, when NBC decided to be elsewhere when the tree’s 30,000 lights were punched on.