On Tuesday, Brooke White had the biggest lyrical meltdown in “American Idol” history, David Archuleta also forgot the words during a ho-hum performance and Jason Castro sang “Memory” more like a back-alley cat than a Broadway performer in “Cats.”

So who went home last night? Carly Smithson, of course.

Ahem. (Deep breath.) Noooooooo!

I’ve been lucky this season; this might be the latest in an “Idol” season that I’ve been this shocked and annoyed by the results. Usually this happens much earlier (see the Top 24 exit of Lisa Leuschner in Season 2 3).

But that doesn’t make the news any more just.

I have a lot of friends who love Carly Smithson, but I doubt any of them vote for “Idol” contestants. I’d wager that among fans of the show who don’t vote, she’s the most popular contestant from this season this side of David Archuleta. But that obviously didn’t help the Irish native keep her spot in the competition, despite a superb, electric performance on “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

I’m trying to deduce what it was about that performance that wasn’t enough motivation for voters to care. Was it because someone not from the United States—let alone not someone from the Heartland—was singing about Jesus in a non-country format? Was it because that song was a number from a musical that some consider blasphemous? Do viewers put that much stock into the opinions of the judges, who too often were bizarrely underwhelmed by her best performances? Was it because she was slammed for auditioning despite a previous MCA record contract that bombed under her birth name, Carly Hennessy? Or was it because the singer with the tattooed arm sleeve is not as traditionally pinchably cute like David Archuleta or Brooke White, who don’t respectively need such petty things as RELEVANCE and PITCH to live another week?

Although all of the aforementioned reasons factored into the results, none of them matters to me. But while I take umbrage with all of those reasons, the one negative element I’ll begrudgingly admit about Carly is that she came across as more desperate than confident all season. No matter how humble a singer is on the inside, an “Idol” should carry herself/himself with the confidence an “Idol” champ. That might be the only thing she didn’t have… but that’s a really big thing.

But, wow, when she was right, could Carly sing! “Jesus Christ Superstar,” even with two flubbed words, was more fun than anything else on last night’s show. “Crazy On You.” “Come Together.” “Here You Come Again.” She was always a must-watch.

While I might like David Cook’s performances more frequently, I’d always defend Carly Smithson the hardest. After all, it is—allegedly—a singing competition.

Hopefully this isn’t the end of the road for Smithson, who could be a more-than-viable recording artist. As much as I loved Melinda Doolittle last season, I could see Smithson being this year’s Chris Daughtry; not in terms of vocal style, but in terms of reaping the most from her “Idol” exposure, despite not competing in the finale.

More cranky commentary after the break.

I actually liked this week’s Ford music video, with all of the “Idol” contestants busting out edgier clothing and hairstyles—except for Robot David Archuleta, whose “edgy” look involved a flannel shirt and mussed-up hair. Yes, I know he was playing the animator drawing everyone else’s bold characters, but still. Yyyyyyyawn.

Dubya and the Missus congratulated “Idol” on raising $22 million for “Idol Gives Back” this year. That’s a nice sum, but the total seems disappointing compared to last year, no? Perhaps the “IGB” format could use some tinkering.

Without explanation, it was a Bottom 2 this week instead of a Bottom 3, with Syesha Mercado joining Carly in that dreaded situation. I can’t recall if this has always been the case when six remain in the competition, but it’s maddening to know that the two best performances received the fewest number of the 38 million votes cast.

Speaking of that, did you notice that there was no call-in segment this week? Instead, Carly and Syesha got to perform the best numbers from Tuesday night’s show because they were supposedly in the Bottom 2. Tell me that the same result would have taken place had Jason Castro and Brooke White been the Bottom 2. Um, yeah, no.

To no one’s suprise, the first two contestants to be announced as safe were David Archuleta and David Cook. Stupidly, the cameras then focused on one of their support groups and used the caption “David’s Family & Friends.” Thanks for that clarification! Only a few seconds later when Archuleta’s father was shown with his crew as “David’s Dad and Friends” did the audience really know the difference.

The “Where Are They Now?” segment with former “Idol” contestants on Broadway was solid. After mentions of Diana DeGarmo in “Hairspray” and Fantasia Barrino and LaKisha Jones in “The Color Purple,” we saw sit-down interviews with Tamyra Gray, who’s performing in “Rent” and Clay Aiken, who’s starring in “Spamalot.” Nice to see both of them getting props for their excellent voices.

Leona Lewis then performed her hit song, “Bleeding Love,” on stage, where she emulated the vocal style of last week’s “Idol” mentor, Mariah Carey. Despite choruses that sounded like there were five Leonas singing in unison due to all those support tracks, the vocal at the coda gave me goosebumps.

Brooke looked shocked that she was safe. But despite her disasterous performance the night before, I knew she’d probably be that way, considering the last pretty white blonde remaining in the competition probably glommed the votes that had been sent the way of Kristy Lee Cook.

You know what’s interesting about what happened when Jason Castro was announced as being safe, sending Carly to the Bottom 2? If you could get past the 50 or so girls squeeeeeing to celebrate, there was the far more deafening silence behind it. That was the perfect metaphor for Carly; not enough fans voiced support for her, but they also probably realize how much lamer the competition is without her.

Simon Cowell said Carly could leave with “her head held high.” A few nicer words about her from all the judges along the way might have helped her more than that.

Next week, Neil Diamond serves as mentor. And call me crazy, but I think David Cook could pull off an awesome rendition of “Coming To America”—which would have been even more goosebumpy if Carly had the chance to perform it. And I’d wager almost anything that Jason picks “Sweet Caroline.”

(Photos by Michael Becker/FOX.)