Fox Takes Aim at Boosting Sunday Prime-Time Lineup : Television: New programming chief John Matoian juggles the lineup, particularly focusing on Sunday night.

The new programming chief at Fox indicated Wednesday that he was not immediately planning a dramatic shift in direction for the network, but instead will try to bolster its existing prime-time schedule.

In his first public comments since being named to the position in September, Fox Entertainment Group President John Matoian also expressed hope that Fox would have a late-night show by the fall of 1995 and said the network is moving forward with the development of a newsmagazine for next year but backing off from its production of made-for-TV movies about living celebrities.

Matoian told a news conference that he was particularly concerned with the Sunday night situation. Although Fox outbid CBS for the NFL’s Sunday afternoon football package this season, the acquisition has not boosted prime-time ratings. Two new Sunday series, “Fortune Hunter” and “Wild Oats,” drew dismal ratings and were canceled soon after they premiered this season.

“I would be lying if I said it wasn’t disappointing,” Matoian said, saying that the audience “immediately rejected” those shows.

Starting Jan. 8, repeats of “The Simpsons” will air at 7 p.m., followed at 7:30 p.m. by the debut of a new version of the classic secret agent spoof “Get Smart,” with original cast members Don Adams and Barbara Feldon. New episodes of “The Simpsons” will continue to air at 8 p.m. At 8:30 p.m., Fox has scheduled “House of Buggin,” a new sketch comedy show starring John Leguizamo. “Married . . . With Children” will stay at 9 p.m., to be followed at 9:30 by “Dream On,” a comedy previously seen on cable’s HBO pay service.

“Encounters: The Hidden Truth” will have its last regular broadcast in the Sunday 7 p.m. slot on Dec. 18. “The George Carlin Show,” which currently airs at 9:30 p.m. Sundays, will be off the air as of Jan. 1.

Another shift will be the switching of the teen drama “Party of Five” with “Models Inc.” Beginning Jan. 2, “Models Inc.” will move to Mondays at 9 p.m., following “Melrose Place.” On Jan. 4, “Party of Five” will air Wednesdays at 9 p.m. behind “Beverly Hills, 90210.” Both pairings should prove more compatible, he said.

Matoian said that Fox had entered into a multi-picture agreement with Hallmark Entertainment to produce original family-oriented movies for the network. “‘Hallmark Entertainment Presents” will premiere in the fall of 1995.

With the poor performance of made-for-TV movies about Roseanne Arnold and Madonna on the network this season, Matoian said Fox would be backing away from developing movie biographies of celebrities. “I don’t think the audience wants to see people play real people,” he said. “Also, these movies were not about people who had enough untold stories to intrigue people to watch.”

But Fox still plans to broadcast movies about Mia Farrow and football legend O.J. Simpson, who is on trial for the murder of his ex-wife and Ronald Lyle Goldman.

Matoian, who said he was having “the best time of my life” at Fox, formerly was president of the Fox Family Films division of 20th Century Fox. He previously had been at CBS, where he had been senior vice president for movies for television and miniseries, heading the division that made such films as “Gypsy,” “To Dance With the White Dog” and “David’s Mother.”