NEW YORK – Just a week after running its first unseen footage in two years, NBC’s paranoid tour de force “To Catch a Predator” is aiming to up the ante in its bizarre corner of reality television by introducing live-action porn stars into the cast of characters the Dateline NBC offshoot uses to lure disturbed patsies into its grasp.

The controversial show, in production since 2004, has been beleaguered with bad PR in recent years, including the suicide of a prosecutor who was the patsy during one of the show’s heavy-handed hybridizations of law enforcement and entertainment.

The show has also been criticized for a woeful conviction rate, a conflict of interest with Perverted Justice, the organization it fronts, and for allegations of entrapment.

The latter charges spring from the fact that members of Perverted Justice enter Internet sex chat rooms where they pose as under-age lascivious teens and woo adult members with   absurdly wanton come-ons, often aggressively persisting until their marks relent and agree to participate in a preposterous, sex-filled romp at a decoy house that, unknown to the “perp,” is filled with hidden cameras, a platoon of heavily armed paramilitary assets, a gaggle of key grips, sound- and cameramen, a lissome house-elf that serves as the final visual and vocal decoy and, most ominously, Chris Hanson.

Now, producers say, the show is poised to put all of those allegations behind it, thanks to its rollout of young but seasoned porn stars, who will relieve the sprightly, foul-mouthed but untouchable, quickly vanishing tarts that have been a hallmark of the show since its inception.

The step, while radical, was the “last and best option” available, insiders say. Other tweaks, such as adding a laugh track, were considered and deemed “too safe” to have the desired impact on viewers.

“You’ve got to have that final motivation to lure the bad guys inside, especially with word of our show spreading,” said Chris Hanson, the gravelly voiced icon of the show, who is affectionately  known by Perverted Justice and other vigilante groups as “The Granddaddy of Gotcha.”

“For the lion’s share of our history, just having a sexy ‘barely legal’ with a ridiculously high-pitched voice preen around the doorway with a plate of cookies or lemonade was more than enough to get these scumbags to step inside, giving me the chance to take over,” Hanson continued. “But despite all our success, we – and our viewers – were left wanting.”

For one thing, Hanson says, the convictions weren’t devastating enough. “Sure, many times these were felonies, and certainly we were able to ruin dozens of lives over thought crime directed against an imaginary person, and that’s good stuff – good enough for a laugh track, but we felt there was room for more.”

That’s when producers lit upon the idea of retaining seasoned sex professionals to take the place of the effective – but hands-off – nymphets that have typically served as Hanson’s sidekicks.

“We got to thinking, there’s plenty of really talented porn stars who look like they’re underage,” noted Hanson. “We know they’re willing to give up their bodies for their profession, and we figured, ‘why not take this show up a notch?’”

Starting with the show’s next season, details of which are being closely held, a diminutive porn star will beckon the unknowing thought-perverts into the trap house, then quickly disrobe and rut with the target, all of which will be captured on camera.

Hanson will spring into frame at the climax of the scene, proffering a robe and bearing the perp’s chat transcript and his usual litany of questions.

The rest of the show will remain unchanged: following a sacerdotal inquisition by Hanson, the target will be ambushed by a film crew aimed only at humiliating the subject, the entire chain of events having already been captured in excellent quality by hidden cameras and sound equipment.

This will be followed by the standard coup de grâce in which the subject is arrested with exaggerated physical enthusiasm on the threshold of the home as he attempts to exit the property.

The big difference, stress producers, is that perps will now be able to be charged with more robust crimes, since an actual physical act will have occurred. “We’ve moved past talk, and gotten into action,” said one executive with the show who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media without a permission slip from Chris Hansen.

“To really ratchet up charges, we’re even toying with the idea of having underage porn stars – you can get them offshore really easily – participate, after signing a waiver, of course. That would really land some serious convictions.”

The one drawback, the show admits, is that it will have to be heavily edited when shown on its flagship network, since NBC cannot show X-rated footage. But producers say a deal is in the works with a cable partner, where it will be made available “uncut on a pay-per-view basis.”