But are those cracks we see beginning to emerge in Idol's mighty battlements? Last week, the charity special Idol Gives Back drew 17.6 million viewers. Last year, the same show attracted 26.9 million viewers. Is it just compassion fatigue?

No, Idol's erosion is significant. In Philadelphia last week, more people watched CSI than watched the Tuesday performance edition of Idol. (In the national ratings, Tuesday's Idol narrowly edged out CSI.) And three other regularly scheduled series episodes had higher ratings in Philadelphia than both Idol's Thursday results show and Idol Gives Back.

This Tuesday, 23.7 million viewers tuned in to see the top seven sing Mariah Carey songs. That's the smallest audience for an Idol performance show in three years. All told, Idol is down 7 percent from last season and nearly double that among young adults.

Why the decline? Simon Cowell is blaming it on the lack of personality among this year's contestants. And the wicked wasp of pop music has a point. Every time I see the sanctimonious Brooke White go into her Mother Teresa act I want to throttle her until her eyes bug out. (Gee, did I just type that?)

Other problems need fixing as well. These one-artist theme nights are tedious. How do you make the Beatles sound boring? This batch of kids managed to do it - twice! But Dolly Parton night? Mariah Carey night? And next week, Andrew Lloyd Webber night? Please make it stop!

Maybe the judges should stop anointing David Cook as the most "original" and "daring" artist since Bob Dylan. Week after week, Cook simply roughs up well-known pop songs so they sound like anguished rockers Filter. That's not exactly reinventing the musical scale.

The most annoying thing about Idol is the way it has allowed Ryan Seacrest, over time, to appropriate a bigger and bigger role on the show. It's like giving Don Pardo a telethon. The guy is an announcer and not a very good one. But most nights, Idol plays out like the Ryan Seacrest Show. And nobody, and I mean nobody, wants to watch that.

Politics as usual. When Brothers & Sisters returns to the ABC schedule tomorrow night, I'm expecting to like it more. Previously, I had trouble believing Rob Lowe running for president of the United States. I mean, let's face it, the guy is no Jimmy Smits.

But this week, Lowe was embroiled in a nasty sexual scandal, as his former nanny, Jessica Gibson, 24, appeared on Today, claiming that the actor, 44, repeatedly sexually harassed and abused her during her seven years in his employ.

Suddenly Lowe is looking like a viable candidate.

A bridge too far. On the first of two episodes of Eli Stone that aired on ABC this week, our visionary title character (Jonny Lee Miller) foresaw the Golden Gate Bridge collapsing as the fiance of one of his colleagues was driving over it on his way out from Ohio.

Somebody needs a geography lesson. The only way he would be on the bridge is if he had flown to Portland and driven 11 hours south to Frisco.

Shades of Heidi. Last Saturday, Fox sports switched away from an epic Yankees-Red Sox baseball game with two outs in the ninth so they could broadcast the opening lap of NASCAR's Subway Fresh Fit 500.

This after a two-hour rain delay, during which Fox repeatedly promised to get us back to the game. That meant sitting through an endless filibuster by the insufferable Jeanne Zelasko, interrupting everything her studio-mates Eric Karros and Kevin Kennedy had to say.

Soul sister. The funniest thing I've seen on TV recently takes place in one of those Macy's ads with a celebrity behind every counter. Carlos Santana is serenading Mariah Carey with some stinging guitar.

Hearing the music in another part of the store, Martha Stewart closes her eyes and begins softly swaying, as if her soul is being transported.

It's like seeing a crocodile pretending to be enthralled by poetry.

Rock on, Martha.

David Hiltbrand at dhiltbrand@phillynews.com or 215-854-4552. Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/ daveondemand.