“American Idol’s” Hollywood Week is about to become Hollywood Squared.

For the next two weeks – instead of the usual one – Fox’s aging but still powerful hit will devote five full hours to the on-stage and backstage shenanigans of roughly 150 contestants who got a ticket to Hollywood and are hoping to make it into the semi-finals.

“The reason we did that is because, from a ratings standpoint, these shows do really well,” says executive producer Cecile Frot-Coutaz. “Last year, they did even better than the auditions.”

That may be because after weeks of cringe-inducing shrieking and squawking on the road, even “Idol” fanatics are ready to see the real talent slug it out. They’ll be singing individually, and in groups. They’ll have to hold their own on the vast stage of Hollywood’s Kodak Theater. And they’ll have to get past the judges one last time before the live shows begin and the voting public gets to weigh in.

‘AMERICAN IDOL’ SECTION

No wonder the producers want to exploit these four action-packed days that were taped back in November.

“There is so much emotion,” says executive producer Ken Warwick. He isn’t just talking about the singing.

Another good reason for producing a double dose of Tinseltown is to give “Idol” more time to exploit the fireworks between judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and “the new girl,” Kara DioGuardi.

So far, she has had no problem telling Cowell that it’s her turn to speak or baring her teeth with contestants who forget their place. “Hold on a minute, bitch,” she said to Katrina Darrell, a.k.a. “Bikini Girl,” when, during the underclothed contestant’s first audition, Darrell tried to interrupt DioGuardi’s singing tutorial.

“She had a few more clothes on than just a bikini,” reports Frot-Coutaz of Darrell’s Hollywood engagement. Was that because she was worried that the other contestants would stone her?

“No,” says Frot-Coutaz. “It was because it was a bit cold in November.

“Since there are four judges this season instead of three, tie votes to get into the semi-finals will be broken by Cowell, who is, as always, first among equals. But, according to Warwick, the new dynamic has also given DioGuardi and Abdul more influence because they were able to “gang up” against Cowell in the early weeks, giving potentially great singers who had a mediocre audition the benefit of the doubt.

“Maybe they had a 500-mile journey to get there and had been waiting since five o’clock in the morning,” says Warwick. “Maybe they were terrified out of their minds. And normally, Simon would say ‘no,’ and that would be the end of it. But [Kara and Paula] would say, ‘I don’t think you were great now, but there is a possibility that you could be very good and we’re going to put you through.’ And that was borne out in Hollywood by some of the kids who were not so great in their audition, just okay, and turned out to be fabulous.”

On the Kodak stage, the wheat will be cut from the chaff in short order. “It’s all about: Can they fill the stage?” says Frot-Coutaz. “Do they forget the lyrics? Did they take the notes the judges gave them on the road about changing their look, or performing with more stage presence?”

In the midst of all that pressure, the singers will get one piece of good news: 36 of them, up from 24, will make it into the semifinals.

Then, starting February 17, the 36 will be divided into three groups of 12. Each dozen will have one week to compete. After the public votes, the top three from each group will make it into the finals.

Each fourth-place singer will get a spot in the Wild Card group, which will be filled out by singers from Hollywood Week that the judges want to bring back. The exact number of Wild Cards has yet to be determined.

But for now, it’s all about making it.

“It’s my favorite part of the competition,” says Frot-Coutaz. “On the road, you have the surprise and unpredictability of who is going to walk through the door and are they going to be good or bad. And then you get to Hollywood Week and it’s a more manageable number. You start to know them, root for them. And that’s when you really start to get your emotional hooks into the show.”

AMERICAN IDOL

Tuesday and Wednesday, 8 p.m,. Fox