Faces to Watch in ’95 : We’re Counting on Them : TELEVISION

Some of them you know. Some you don’t. But the following artists, entertainers and executives have one thing in common: We’re counting on each to mae a significant impact or difference in their respective fields this year. Sure, there will be thers who make a splash, but after we talked with dozens of people who work in entertainment and the arts, these were the names mentioned most often. You might say that Jim Carrey was a face to watch in ‘94, and you would be right. But, based on “Ace Ventura,” “The Mask,” and “Dumb and Dumber,” Carrey’s ’95 should bear watching. Another pair of familiar faces--Jay Leno and David Letterman--appear on our list. Why? Haven’t we looked at these guys enough? Well, truth be told, how do you know what’s going to happen to them this year? Fame can be sooooo fleeting.

John Matoian

Hallmark movies on Fox? That’s the vision of John Matoian, new president of entertainment at the no-longer-fledgling Fox network. The Hallmark Entertainment films next fall will be “tougher, grittier, family-in-crisis kinds of movies,” Matoian promises.

Once simply the smart-aleck youngster, Fox now must pay attention with two new broadcast networks breathing down its neck--both headed by former Fox masterminds.

Matoian, meanwhile, comes from a more, uh, conservative background as head of Fox studio’s family film division and VP of movies and miniseries for the stately CBS. But Matoian, 46, was a high school English teacher for nine years. “They’re great crap detectors,” he said of his students. He vows not to abandon Fox’s young viewers. Next Sunday, Fox premieres the sketch-comedy series “House of Buggin’ ” and an updated “Get Smart.” Now that’s more like it.