Fox, NBC Yank Three Shows

Only 10 days into the fall season, both Fox and NBC yanked shows out of the prime-time lineup to shore up obvious ratings weaknesses. Sent to the bench were NBC’s “The Martin Short Show” and Fox’s “Fortune Hunter” and “Wild Oats.”

NBC said Short’s Tuesday night sitcom will definitely be given another shot in December, after the producers have had a chance to overhaul it--again. The show had been revamped after the pilot that was shot to sell the series.

The future of “Fortune Hunter” and “Wild Oats” is not so certain, particularly with the ouster on Wednesday of Fox programming chief Sandy Grushow. Whether his replacement, John Matoian, will want to keep them or cancel them was uncertain Thursday, a Fox spokesman said.

“Fortune Hunter” and “Wild Oats” were two key factors that apparently led to Grushow’s dismissal--part of the Sunday lineup that has been trounced by ABC, CBS and NBC despite the expensive addition of NFL football as a lead-in to the prime-time fare.

“Wild Oats,” a sex-oriented sitcom at 9:30 p.m., ranked 89th among last week’s 92 prime-time network programs, and “Fortune Hunter,” a spy drama slotted at 7 p.m. opposite “60 Minutes,” was 92nd.

“Fortune Hunter” will air again this weekend, then will be replaced by “Encounters: The Hidden Truth,” a magazine-style series about “strange and unexplained phenomena” that Fox tried out this summer. The 9:30 slot will be filled for two weeks by reruns of “Married . . . With Children,” then by “The George Carlin Show,” a sitcom returning from last season.

Ratings for “The Martin Short Show” declined nearly 10% this week and were lower than for shows on either side of it, “Wings” and “Frasier.”

NBC will fill the next three Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. with repeats of “Wings” and “Mad About You,” with plans after that still to be determined.