You may have heard about the global lights-out exercise last Saturday. At 8:30 p.m. in each time zone, many homes and businesses turned off their lights for an hour.
I mention it now only because of this: I'm quite sure that all the electricity saved then was cancelled out by Diddy's number tonight on "American Idol."
Lights flashed, lights glowed. I could almost hear people rushing new power plants to keep up. Beyond that, here are my comments; please add yours:
1) The only surprise tonight was a good one. I had predicted that Didi Benami would go home, with Tim Urban and Siobhan Magnus rounding out the bottom three. That's what happened, except that it was Katie Stevens (not Siobhan) in that second-from-last spot.
2) That's as it should be. Siobhan had some troubles with song choice and hair choice, but she's still a terrific talent who should bound back next week. Katie usually settles for blandly likable.
3) I've always been opposed to the 90-second time limit for a contestant's song. Alas, I began to favor it midway in Ruben Studdard's song. And again in Diddy's song.
4) Studdard provides a simple lesson for the immensely talented Michael Lynche: Don't let this happen to you.
5) I usually grumble about the extra ads and promos that "Idol" sneaks in. Still, I have to admit that I liked the "Clash of the Titans" bit -- especially when a movie character said "release the dragon" and we got a shot of Simon Cowell.
6) My only problem is that I remember when "drain the dragon" was an expression for a male relieving himself. That gives a different perspective to "release the dragon." And it makes me flinch when I hear: "'How to Train Your Dragon,' in 3-D."
7) The night's highlight came after Ryan Seacrest tried to make Michael think he was in the bottom. Michael responded by lifting him in the air and spinning him. We've all wanted to do that.
8) Coming next week are the songs of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. That should be good -- or as good as it can get with a line-up that now has only three women, alongside six men.
9) Why is it such a bad thing that Tim Urban smiles a lot? I still think smiling is good. I've done it occasionally myself.
10) And smiling definitely beats the frequent weeping of Didi Benami. Except that now we won't have to worry about that.