There comes a point in every American Idol [1] season when it begins to occur to me that America and I must not be watching the same show. And in this season, that point came Wednesday night. Anyone else feel like they were in bizarro world? To see who's safe for Neil Diamond week and who headed home, just .

There were weeks — like, say, last week [2] — when I would have said it was no surprise had Carly gone home. But this week? After one of her best performances of the season, when she finally seemed to be relaxed and rocking and having fun? Carly obviously had a tough time connecting with voters; she was ending up in the bottom three when there were far, far worse singers still in the competition. But her personality was finally starting to show through, and she was looking cute and acting delightful. So why now, America?

In fact, everything that happened after the Davids were proclaimed safe made no sense to me. Syesha (whom I liked for the first time on Tuesday) and Brooke (of the False Start Heard 'Round the World) paired together — and Brooke's the one who was safe? And Carly's adorably up-tempo "Superstar" got trumped by Jason's warbling "Memory"? All of my predicted bottom three [3] were safe, and the two performances I liked best landed in the bottom. Did this make anyone else feel a little out of sorts?

Carly seemed like such a wreck any time she'd ended up in the bottom earlier this season, but she handled her departure with class on Wednesday — and she should be proud of herself. At least she went out with a strong performance, and I honestly hope her second real crack at a music career works out better than the first.

Some other thoughts:

• Does anyone else think Syesha has been trained to know exactly where the camera is at all times?
• This week brought in 38 million votes, which I think is the highest total we've heard this season.
• Some of the harmonies on the "All I Ask of You" group sing were awesomely bad. There were some notes that I don't know if any of the six of them could hit individually — and they were being asked to hit them together. Disaster!
• Ryan called Brooke's false start the first time anyone had ever stopped and started in all of Idol history. Except that's a lie, cause Brooke did it a couple of weeks ago.
• While the show was really mostly filler (why on earth are they still an hour long?), I actually enjoyed the chat with Andrew Lloyd Webber, especially when he called Jason's decision to sing "Memory" the "most curious song choice" of his career.
• Why does Young David always get the most boring role in the Ford Pimpomercials?
• Hey, that was President Bush's second appearance on TV this week! But it didn't do much to boost ratings for Deal or No Deal.
• If that was your first time hearing or seeing Leona Lewis, did you think she lived up to the hype [4]?
• I totally crack up every time I see a scene from season one that has Dunkleman in it.
• I think I prefer the sing-out ending to the awkward standing around that happened last night. Why diminish the last moment in the spotlight?

So, are any of the rest of you baffled by America at large? Can anyone take out the two Davids? And who's going to sing "Sweet Caroline" next week?

Photos courtesy of Fox [5]