IT WAS LIKE the final scene of the movie "Grease." Fox bought out the far end of the Santa Monica pier’s amusement park for the last day of the summer TV critics press tour. But not everyone was having fun.

Pamela Anderson, star of Fox’s "Stacked," walked down the red carpet where press people gathered outside the velvet rope to do their quick interviews for TV. And then she promptly left without even entering the Television Critics Association party.

Perhaps she felt she’d given enough after a session for the series earlier that afternoon.

Anderson said she’s not back with her ex, Tommy Lee, but she was trying to give a little publicity push for his new NBC reality series airing this month, "Tommy Lee Goes to College" - a show, she admits, she’s never seen.

So she’s endorsing something she hasn’t seen, a reporter questioned.

"I am endorsing him, which, yes, that has been a problem in the past," Anderson said. When asked if he was grateful for her help, she said, "No."

Others who were none-too-happy to meet the press were Adam Brody ("The O.C."), who answered questions tersely before retreating to talk to his personal publicist, and Seth Green (voice on "Family Guy").

Green had already had his fill of TV critics after the NBC party for his midseason comedy, "The Four Kings."

"I’m only here because I signed a contract," snarled Green. "I’m getting out as soon as I can."

Ah, it’s a complicated relationship between press and talent.

On the other hand, "The O.C." stars Peter Gallagher and Benjamin McKenzie jumped into the breech, giving it their all - even when some magazine reporters asked McKenzie inane questions such as, "Are you a dog or a cat person?" (Dog), and "Would you rather have a dog or a girlfriend?" (A girlfriend on Saturday night, a dog on Sunday morning, he replied, a bit tongue in cheek.)

"The O.C." creator Josh Schwartz says the main characters of Ryan (McKenzie), Seth(Brody), Summer (Rachel Bilson) and Marissa (Mischa Barton) won’t be playing musical partners this season as he explores their relationships.

Most of the interview activity focused on Will Estes, formerly of "American Dreams" and now starring in the drama "Reunion." One of the sweetest people on the planet, Estes politely answered questions for hours on end. And when he was pulled away for a pre-arranged interview with another reporter, he assured those gathered to chat that he’d be right back.

And he was.

Another favorite was Wentworth Miller, who stars in the exciting new Fox drama "Prison Break." Miller is the son of a Rhodes scholar and he’s a graduate of Princeton. Miller had a busy year, appearing in the CBS pilot "Ghost Whisperer," the "Prison Break" pilot and as the devilish nemesis on "Joan of Arcadia" in the final episodes of that series.

"I told them I would not be able to continue that character’s story arc on the show if ’Prison Break’ was picked up and if they came back the next season," Miller says. "But I don’t think (’Joan’s’ producers) were worried about that because at that point, they had bigger fish to fry."

Although Miller says he had nothing to do with "Joan of Arcadia’s" cancellation, "I do find it strangely poetic that a character who shows up on a show about God to play something kind of satanic winds up in the very last two episodes of that show, and then appears in the show (’Ghost Whisperer’) that replaces that show at its exact time and night the following season."

Now there’s the difference between interviewing a contemplative Princeton grad and - well, we won’t be bitter about the other boys.

Veteran British actor Hugh Laurie ("House") stood for an hour through a barrage of questions, answering with wit and character. Of his iconoclastic hero House, Laurie says that the doctor he plays may not be a people person, but he’s a hero nonetheless.

"House has sacrificed love, friendship and his own personal comfort to get at the truth, to solve mysteries concerning the diseases of others," Laurie says. "In British TV, we don’t do heroes, and this is a nice change."

Former "Angel" star David Boreanaz (now in the new series "Bones") did his best to dodge reporters, although that was probably just fine with those who have tried in the past to get a decent quote out of the man.

He did, however, embrace his former "Buffy" co-star Nicholas Brendan, who brings his comic talents to Fox’s promising new series "Kitchen Confidential." Both Brendan and co-star John Francis Daley ("Freaks & Geeks") chatted happily about their new series.

As the lights went out down at the pier, and the last of the TCA and Fox folks filed out to the parking lot, it seemed like summer was over.

And the fall programs are coming right around the corner.

Although life among the glitterati has ended for now, it’s just a few short weeks before the new series start popping up on the air.