HUNG OVER 'AMERICAN IDOL' TWEAKS THE FORMULA FOR SEASON NO. 4.

Byline: David Kronke Television Writer

With the debut CD from last season's ``American Idol'' winner Fantasia Barrino withering from both fan and critical indifference, perhaps the third season's biggest winner was William Hung.

His surreally wretched take on Ricky Martin's ``She Bangs'' was celebrated - OK, denigrated - as hallucinatory, hilarious and historically bereft of any understanding of the concept of ``music.'' Still, an opportunistic label released two CDs of Hung's song stylings.

Going by the number of references to the two during a phone interview with Randy Jackson, the ``American Idol'' judge who doesn't automatically hate everything (that would be Simon Cowell) or love everything (Paula Abdul), references to Hung outnumber those to Barrino four to one. He doesn't mention Barrino, in fact, until posed a question specifically about her, while Hung's name is dropped in his first comment.

``Unfortunately, (bad) people definitely do come back to audition; fortunately, William Hung did not come back,'' Jackson says. (``Idol'' rules state that anyone who doesn't make it to final 32 can try out anew.) ``There are (terrible singers) who are different and people who just want to be the next William Hung. I don't care to know the difference - they're both horrific. You can't use the word 'singing.' ''

But Hung's emergence isn't the only thing concerning those behind ``Idol'' from last year. There were also voting problems and the way contestants were eliminated, leading to some fine-tuning for this year's show.

Both Jackson and ``Idol'' executive producer Ken Warwick insist they attempted to weed out those who try to get on the show, however briefly, through sheer incompetence. But when Fox's reality juggernaut returns Jan. 18, a couple of format changes cater to fans who enjoy watching clueless (or, even, clued-in) wannabes humiliate themselves on national television.

``A lot of people deliberately came to be William Hungs,'' Warwick admits. ``They think, 'If I'm really terrible, they'll put me on TV.' The truth is, we don't, we escort them out. But we've done a little segment called 'Meet the Fakers' '' (an intentional faint echo of ``Meet the Fockers'') that unveils willfully awful auditions, where singers were obviously just looking to get critically clubbed by Cowell.

Moreover, initial auditions - this season, a record 103,000 crooners tested the ears of Jackson, Abdul and Cowell - will take up five weeks of the series' fourth season, as opposed to the three weeks of years past.

Robert Thompson, founding director of Syracuse University's Center for the Study of Popular Television, warns that as crowd-pleasing as woeful warbling can be, it's also the element of the show that can grow most obvious.

``People have learned to play the game,'' Thompson notes. ``The first times, it was so delicious - most really thought they were really good. Now, though, we've had an entire series based on the idea of people being bad (the WB's little-seen 'Superstar USA').

``This is where they need to be the most careful - last year, we got an awful lot of awful stuff,'' he continues. ``William Hung sealed the end of innocence of that period. That guy opened the floodgates for the pyrotechnically awful to the point where I don't buy it anymore. It's almost as much of a brass ring for people to be bad enough as it is to be good enough.''

``American Idol'' is, essentially, three reality shows in one. The first, obviously, invites viewers to laugh at the off-key antics of tuneless buffoons. The second is a straightforward talent show, winnowing posers from possible superstars. The third makes for the most memorable television, as audiences come to know the finalists and become emotionally involved with their travails and triumphs.

``My favorite parts are the beginning, the middle and the very end, but between the beginning and the middle, there's a lot of space,''Jackson says. ``The early rounds are entertaining, but trying to find the top 10 is the most interesting. Once you're down to that, it's a lot tougher - who's got the stamina? Who can stand the heat? Who's not getting sleep? Who's in artist mode?''

``Idol'' has made other changes this season to heighten the drama. Celebrity judges for finalist shows have been jettisoned, though Brandy, LL Cool J and Gene Simmons of Kiss, among others, were recruited for regional auditions.

Because celebrity judges ``didn't want to be horrible to the kids, they were a bit benign,'' Warwick admits, adding, however, that on the road, ``Gene Simmons was meaner than Simon.''

Warwick added, ``If Stevie Wonder or Paul McCartney wants to be on the show, we'd obviously make an exception, but we're not looking to have them.''

The biggest change will come midseason, beginning Feb. 21, when, instead of 32 aspirants ousted at a rate of six per week, 24 contestants - 12 men and 12 women - will compete. At this point, ``American Idol'' will air three times a week - on Monday, female contestants will vie for votes, with men showing off their chops on Tuesday. Wednesday's episode, as always, will reveal viewer reactions, eliminating two men and two women each week.

Adding more episodes in the heart of the season, Warwick insists, is not just a stunt to garner the struggling Fox network higher ratings.

``We were never happy with the fact that with 32 great kids, eight performed each week, two got through and you never saw six of them again,'' Warwick explains. ``Then, the next week, a kid who went through was not as good as someone who placed third the week before but was cut. This is a fairer way of doing it, and the public will be more invested in the kids who are left. When we get to the final 12, you'll have a better idea of who you want to stay there.''

Also this year, the maximum age of eligible participants was raised from 26 to 28. The minimum remains 16. The show will also feature a modified set and a new graphics package.

What won't change, however, is the controversial phone voting system. Last season, the Daily News received hundreds of complaints from readers unable to get through overloaded phone lines to vote for their favorites.

``We get this all the time, to be honest, and I don't know where these stories come from,'' Warwick says. ``Local exchanges must get congested, because there has never been an instance where the national exchanges have been congested.

``Last year, people said that Hawaii kept Jasmine (Trias) in the running,'' Warwick continued, referring to the ``AI'' rule stating that phone lines be kept open for two hours in each time zone, leading some to theorize that Hawaiians - who had fewer callers to jam ``Idol'' phone lines - were able to stuff the ballot box for the Aloha State native. ``The truth was that West Coast voters liked Jasmine, as well, and were responsible for keeping her in. These stories were greatly exaggerated. The system works pretty well.''

Last May, however, Fox opened additional phone lines for the finale, a move that would have been meaningless if the problem was local phone systems incapable of handling the volume of calls. TV industry magazine Broadcasting and Cable attributed the problem to thousands of so-called power-dialers employing fast Internet connections and computer auto-dialing software, a factor Warwick dismissed. In July, Fox Entertainment president Gail Berman attributed the widespread busy signals to fans dialing wrong numbers.

Jackson concurs. ``In any election, there will always be controversy,'' he says. ``You'll never satisfy all the people all the time, but three years running, America chose the right person. So I don't know how you can say there's something wrong with the voting system.

``If William Hung won, then everyone would have a right to say, 'This voting sucks.' ''

David Kronke,[phone]

david.kronke(at)dailynews.com

AMERICAN IDOL

What: The talent/reality-show phenomenon returns for a fourth season to transform a nobody into a somebody.

Where: Fox (Channel 11).

When: 8 p.m. Jan. 18 and 19.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) `IDOL' tuneup

Show doesn't want to get hung up on controversies like last year

(2) While this season's ``American Idol'' will not rely so heavily on celebrity judges, regular panelist Randy Jackson, left, joined KISS bassist Gene Simmons, and ``Idol'' veterans Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell during one of the Fox reality competition's regional auditions.

(3) ``Idol'' producers maintain that Hawaiian viewers weren't the only ones voting for Jasmine Trias.