2 NEW FOX SERIES--PLAINLY NO VANILLA

It’s Fox, not lox. Not that the public would know.

Since fall, the infant Fox TV network has consisted of only one series, Joan Rivers’ raspy week-night talk show, whose campaign for better ratings prompted a recent shuffle of producers.

But the bill expands Sunday with the introduction of “Married . . . With Children” and “The Tracey Ullman Show” on KTTV Channel 11 and XETV Channel 6, as the Rupert Murdoch-steered Fox venture becomes the first serious, well-financed attempt in years to sustain a non-cable fourth commercial network to compete with the Big Three.

In coming weeks, Fox will dribble out the rest of its Saturday and Sunday prime-time schedule on independent stations reportedly reaching 85% of the nation. Whether the fourth network scheme will work remains to be seen, but there’s no doubt Fox is already having an impact within the industry. It’s even said that one reason ABC Sports decided to renew its unprofitable “Monday Night Football” ties with the National Football League was because of Fox’s interest in the package.

Meanwhile, is Sunday night on Fox historic? Perhaps. Worth a look? Absolutely.

That’s because “Married . . . With Children” (premiering at 7 p.m., with repeats at 8 and 9 for maximum exposure) and “The Tracey Ullman Show” (at 7:30 p.m., with repeats at 8:30 and 9:30) are evidence anew that TV’s boldest comedy (David Letterman excepted) is not on ABC, CBS and NBC.

The vast majority of syndicated comedies are as appallingly pale and unappealing as those on the major networks. In the pay-cable arena, though, “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” on Showtime is at once TV’s funniest and most daring comedy. Showtime also has the pioneering “Brothers,” TV’s first sitcom with a continuing, identifiably gay character given intelligence and dimension, and on April 20 it will welcome the inventive “Hard Knocks.” On HBO, meanwhile, the long-running “Not Necessarily the News” continues to air a brand of biting satire that makes “Saturday Night Live” look like all gums.

Both new Fox half-hours are uneven, but sometimes quite funny. They are also a bit on the bent side and offbeat.

“Married . . . With Children” is certainly not upbeat as it reshapes the elements of traditionally amiable sitcoms--father, mother, two kids, neighbors--with a chain saw.

Ed O’Neill and Katey Sagal (who played Mary Tyler Moore’s cynical newspaper colleague in the short-lived “Mary”) are Al and Peg Bundy, two awful people who happen to be parents of two awful kids (Christina Applegate and David Faustino).

More Godzilla and Attila than Ozzie and Harriet, the Bundys are often as gross as a Joan Rivers or Don Rickles monologue--blowing insults, not kisses. Some of this is delightfully raunchy and disgusting, the rest merely raunchy and disgusting without the delight, as when “Married . . . With Children” scrounges for jokes in the accidental shooting of a dog in the second episode.

At the very least, you won’t see Al and Peg on the other networks.

Maybe watching the other networks, though. They’re both couch potatoes. He’s a boor, she’s a bore. Al spends his days selling shoes and insulting his customers, his nights in front of the TV set with a beer in his hand, insults on his tongue.

“Hard day?” he asks Peg as he arrives home from work. “Yeah,” she fibs. “Must have been,” he snarls, “ ‘cause even the TV’s sweatin.’ ”

That’s because Peggy spends her days watching quiz shows, chain-smoking and eating candy, her nights nagging and insulting Al. “The hair he’s losing on his head is now growing out of his nose . . . and his ears,” she tells their prim newlywed neighbors, Steve and Marcy (David Garrison and Amanda Bearse), on Sunday’s premiere.

When Al and Peg aren’t insulting each other, they’re insulting or manipulating Steve and Marcy. Unfortunately, Steve and Marcy don’t do a lot for the series, an Embassy Communications production whose executive producers are Ron Leavitt and Michael G. Moye.

With Al and Peg, though, everything in life is a quickie, including sex. In the second episode, Peg orders the kids to wash the dishes, knowing they’ll refuse and stay upstairs in their rooms, giving her and Al time to make love on the living room couch. “That should buy us about 10 minutes,” she says, “which is about seven minutes more than we need.”

The scripts are one-line oriented and sometimes an ugly howl, and the central characters are perfectly cast. The growly O’Neill and Sagal--who has a terrific mincing walk that she may have picked up from her days as one of Bette Midler’s Harlettes--were born to insult and perform bowling-ball humor.

Don’t expect finesse or even socially relevant Achie Bunker. The satire is heavy-handed because Al and Peggy are heavy-handed. Would you want to know these revolting people? No. Watch them? Yes. At least some of the time.

No sitcom is “The Tracey Ullman Show,” which puts the British comedienne/actress/singer squarely on center stage as star of a show whose executive producer is the talented James L. Brooks. The supporting cast includes Julie Kavner (“Rhoda” and “Radio Days”) and Dan Castellaneta.

The premiere consists of a series of sketches that range from so-so to almost-but-not-quite terrific. In one of them, Ullman gets a chance to sing and demonstrates a small but sweet and appealing voice.

She is the kind of special talent who can play both an innocent teen-ager and a witch. She can be sweet or brazen. The nice thing about her show is that it takes at least some small risks and moves away from the center of traditional TV comedy without falling over the edge. A promising blend of creativity and commercialism.

All in all, a foxy--not loxy--start for Fox.