As reported, more semifinalists and wild-card rounds are in the cards

"American Idol" will spend less time with tragicomically bad and/or deluded singers this season and more on people who actually have a chance to win.

That's the upshot from the early-season schedule FOX presented Monday (Dec. 15). The show will spend fewer hours on the audition episodes, increase the time it spends in the Hollywood round and increase the number of semifinalists by a third before narrowing the field down to the usual dozen finalists.

The early-round changes were leaked last week online, and they appear to be pretty well confirmed in FOX's announcement. "American Idol" will begin its eighth season on Jan. 13 and 14 with a pair of two-hour episodes, then confine the audition episodes to hour-long shows for the following two weeks (with "Fringe" and new drama "Lie to Me" getting the coveted lead-out spots). A final audition episode will air Thursday, Jan. 29.

The Hollywood round will get two weeks' worth of shows this year, up from only a week in recent seasons. It will kick off Tuesday, Feb. 3 and conclude with the announcement of 36 semifinalists -- up from 24 in the past -- with a two-hour show on Wednesday, Feb. 11.

The increased number of semifinalists is probably the biggest change, at least in the preliminary rounds, to "Idol" this year. Audience voting begins Tuesday, Feb. 17, when the first batch of 12 hopefuls perform. The following night, the top male and female, plus the next top vote-getter regardless of gender, will get a spot in the finals.

That process will continue for two more weeks, which will result in only nine finalists being voted through. That leaves room for three wild-card spots, to be chosen by judges Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, Kara DioGuardi and Randy Jackson on Thursday, March 5. The final rounds begin March 10.

Here's a rundown of the early-season schedule. All episodes begin at 8 p.m. ET and are one hour unless otherwise noted:

Tuesday, Jan. 13: Season premiere, audition episode (two hours)
Wednesday, Jan. 14: Audition episode (two hours)
Tuesday, Jan. 20: Audition episode
Wednesday, Jan. 21: Audition episode
Tuesday, Jan. 27: Audition episode
Wednesday, Jan. 28: Audition episode
Thursday, Jan. 29: Final audition episode
Tuesday, Feb. 3: Hollywood round, part 1
Wednesday, Feb. 4: Hollywood round, part 2
Tuesday, Feb. 10: Hollywood round, part 3
Wednesday, Feb. 11: Hollywood round, part 4; semifinalists announced (two hours)
Tuesday, Feb. 17: First 12 semifinalists perform (two hours)
Wednesday, Feb. 18: Live results show, three advance to finals
Tuesday, Feb. 24: Second 12 semifinalists perform (two hours)
Wednesday, Feb. 25: Live results show, three advance to finals
Tuesday, March 3: Third 12 semifinalists perform (two hours)
Wednesday, March 4: Live results show, three advance to finals
Thursday, March 5: Wild-card round; finalists announced
Tuesday, March 10: 12 finalists perform (two hours)