After such an awful performance from one woman last night, I shouldn’t be surprised with the results of tonight’s episode of “American Idol.”

No, I’m not talking about Brooke White being eliminated from the competition after her first Neil Diamond song, “I’m A Believer,” never escaped the pits of her range. I’m referring to judge Paula Abdul lowering the show’s credibility into an even deeper morass on Tuesday, only for last night’s episode to gloss over the incident like the judge’s lip sheen.

If you missed the controversy, Abdul looked at her notes to criticize Jason Castro’s second song, saying it left her “empty,” but perhaps that’s because that void never got a chance to be filled, considering he hadn’t even performed the song on air yet. Conveniently, she used the radio show of “Idol” host Ryan Seacrest the next morning to say she was referring to notes she had written about Castro’s second song, which she said she saw during a dress rehearsal. But that excuse conflicts with a different story she told “Entertainment Tonight”—that she mixed up her notes about Castro with those about David Cook. And the Cook excuse makes even less sense, because she allegedly loved both of his songs. Logically, one of those reasons has to be a lie, no?

In short, if Paula’s referring to notes about a performance that isn’t the one ultimately being judged by 45 million votes, that’s a huge blow to the show’s credibility.

But the show totally ignored Paula’s controversial moment for last night’s recap montage. Then Ryan Seacrest (barely) addressed the moment in vague terms, saying that what’s been written online is not true, saying this of Abdul:

She’s part of our family and we love her.

Oh, so I see: The controversy he’s talking about involved “Idol” personnel not loving Paula. Someone ought to tell Ryan that the controversy people are talking about actually speaks to the core of the show’s credibility—or whatever’s left of it at this point.

To make matters worse, the first two questions during the call-in session were pure PR spin on Abdul’s behalf. She got to explain to a 10-year-old why she’s nice to contestants and to another caller that she and Randy Jackson are going to “Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow.” The irony is that Paula alone doesn’t need the good publicity for what she said last night; the show itself is what’s under the most scrutiny after Tuesday’s episode.

Those moments overshadowed everything else that took place in the episode, but after the break I’ll still do a recap of last night’s real-life equivalent of “The Naked Gun’s” Lt. Frank Drebin in front of the exploding fireworks factory, shouting “Nothing to see here!” to curious onlookers.

I know credibility is now an issue on every level, but for a moment, let’s assume that 45 million votes were cast and that the lowest vote total actually belonged to Brooke White. Blind “Idol” defenders might say, “Well, look, Jason Castro got the worst end of the Paula Abdul gaffe, but he survived, so no big deal, right?” Wrong. The embarrassment he endured probably resulted in an extra boost of pity votes heading his way, meaning the producers were probably overjoyed that White actually finished last.

If Castro wound up with the lowest number of votes last night, I’d have absolutely guaranteed that the show would keep everyone in the running and kick off two contestants next week. But with White supposedly finishing last, the producers could feel more comfortable shipping her off and avoiding a legal battle down the line.

White took the bad news poorly—somewhere between Carly Smithson and Alaina Whitaker on the sadness scale. Nice girl, good run. Nothing to be too sad about, Sunshine!

The irony is all of this? As much as Castro didn’t deserve to go home for the wrong reasons, he absolutely deserved to be eliminated for the right ones; overall, he was the worst of the five performers.

Of all people these last 24 hours, David Archuleta actually looked the most surprised when Seacrest announced he was safe this week. Really, Archie?

Something tells me there really is a “bit of history” between Neil Diamond and Simon Cowell, one that leads me to believe the judge has said some not-nice things about the singer in the past. Definitely an awkward moment.

I won’t mince words; Diamond’s “Almost Amazing Grace” was vocally OK but exceptionally dull. Plus, someone should tell his horn section and backup singers that they don’t have to be so animated with their dance moves on a glorified ballad. I will say, though, that while I only like about two of his songs, he seems like a very kind man.

Natasha Bedingfield, in contrast, sounded fantastic and was one of the lone highlights of a dark, dark episode. Sitting next to Archuleta was a cute move, although Seacrest had to ruin everything by revealing that she’s got a boyfriend. Not that I had a chance, but harumph nonetheless.

One other rare bright moment from tonight’s episode came from an unexpected source: the otherwise dreadful call-in segment. When Paula wasn’t preening, we heard from Tara Miller, the woman who first kissed Simon Cowell when he was 9. That was a cute moment, albeit one that went on a bit too long.

I’ve never doodled more on my notepad while watching an episode of “Idol.” The results show is always too long.

I thought it was odd how little applause Constantine Maroulis and Gina Glocksen received when Seacrest announced them to the studio audience. They’re not my favorite contestants, but a little respect would have been nice.

Next week’s theme is “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” which is a vast improvement to, well, Neil Diamond week, but still leads me to believe that the songs won’t be current enough for a show trying to find the next pop superstar. We’ll go a whole season and not have a theme week entirely involving the 21st century, and that’s a disgrace.

(Photo of Abdul by Michael Becker/FOX; photo of White by Frank Micelotta/FOX.)