NBC Sets Its Sights on Sundays : Television: The network, ranked No. 2 in total households, juggles its hit comedies.

Gambling again, fast-rising NBC will try to establish a foothold on Sundays next season with the successful sitcom “Mad About You,” the network announced Monday in unveiling its 1995-96 prime-time schedule.

“Mad About You,” which currently leads off the potent NBC Thursday lineup, will be broadcast starting this fall at 8 p.m. Sunday, a time slot that has been dominated for a decade by CBS’ “Murder, She Wrote.”

CBS is scheduled to announce its 1995-96 lineup early next week, a spokesperson for the network said.

Last season, NBC built a new night by switching another of its hit Thursday series, “Frasier,” to Tuesdays where, in head-to-head competition, it helped knock ABC’s “Home Improvement” out of its No. 1 ranking among all prime-time series. “Home Improvement” finished No. 3 last season, and “Frasier” did very well itself, coming in No. 15.

While NBC has been coming on strong and now is No. 2 behind ABC in total households, it has widely been regarded as a one-night powerhouse, with its Thursday lineup carrying the network. Thus came the “Frasier” move to Tuesdays and now the “Mad About You” shift to Sunday nights to try to broaden NBC’s overall ratings strength.

If “Murder, She Wrote” remains at 8 p.m., it will set up a distinct contrast between NBC and CBS. “Murder, She Wrote,” while a perennial Top 10 hit in total households, skews older and ranks much lower among the 18-to-49-year-old viewers favored by sponsors. “Mad About You,” meanwhile, is a hit with the younger audience that NBC is pursuing.

NBC is clearly putting a high priority on its “Mad About You” move, noting in its Monday schedule announcement that “more people watch television Sunday night at 8 than at any other time of the week.”

Sunday night has long been the backbone of CBS, with “60 Minutes,” “Murder, She Wrote” and a weekly movie. But NBC’s strategy in the fall is to grab the night with four sitcoms replacing two dramas that it scheduled there this past season.

Thus, from 7 to 9 p.m., “Mad About You” will be joined by a recently arrived NBC hit, “Hope & Gloria,” and two new comedies, “Brotherly Love” and “Minor Adjustments.”

“Brotherly Love,” which will air at 7 p.m., stars Joey Lawrence (“Blossom”) and his real-life brothers, Matthew and Andy, in a family-oriented sitcom. “Minor Adjustments,” which airs at 7:30, stars stand-up comedian Rondell Sheridan as a child psychologist who has his own problems as a parent.

The two freshmen sitcoms are among seven new series--six comedies and a drama--that NBC will introduce come fall.

Thursdays again will be NBC’s Tiffany night. Leading off--taking over the “Mad About You” slot--will be “Friends,” another new hit from this season. It will be followed by the new comedy “Single Guy,” with Jonathan Silverman as a thirtysomething bachelor with a “close circle of married friends.”

Completing the NBC Thursday lineup will be “Seinfeld”; another new comedy, “Caroline in the City,” with Lea Thompson as a New York cartoonist, and “ER”--the monster medical hit that debuted last fall.

“Caroline in the City” has raised some industry eyebrows since it comes not only from NBC but also CBS Entertainment, whose own network has been woefully deficient in comedy development. Yet “Caroline in the City” will get the coveted spot between “Seinfeld” and “ER.”

In a significant sidelight, NBC also announced Monday that it has struck a partnership deal with “Caroline in the City” director James Burrows, an expert in developing comedy pilots such as “Cheers,” “Frasier,” “Wings” and “Roc.” He also was a co-creator of “Cheers.”

NBC is also trying to retain its new Tuesday beachhead with another new comedy following “Frasier”--”The Pursuit of Happiness,” about “an idealistic lawyer in his 30s” who has his hands full with his brother-in-law, wife, business partner and grandmother. The show comes from the producing team of “Frasier,” “Wings” and “Cheers.”

In addition, NBC is attempting to make some headway on Saturdays, where it has been notoriously weak. It will lead off with its new drama series, “JAG,” about Navy lawyers. Then comes “The John Larroquette Show”--switched from Tuesdays--followed by the new sitcom “The Home Court,” with Pamela Reed as a family-court judge and single parent with four children. NBC’s Saturday will conclude with the returning “Sisters.”

NBC series that will not be returning from this season include “Earth 2,” “Empty Nest,” “Mommies,” “The Cosby Mysteries,” “Madman of the People,” “Something Wilder,” “The Martin Short Show,” “Pride & Joy,” “Sweet Justice,” “Blossom” and “Amazing Grace.”

The network, meanwhile, is sticking with the long-running “Unsolved Mysteries”; the much-admired police series “Homicide: Life on the Street” and the futuristic “seaQuest DSV.” In addition, the newsmagazine “Dateline NBC” will continue to appear three times a week.

Emphasizing NBC’s continuing focus on the 18-to-49 audience, the company’s entertainment president, Warren Littlefield, said that NBC is the only one of the Big Three networks “with year-to-year growth. . . . Since Jan. 1, we’ve won 13 of 19 weeks in the key adult 18-to-49 demographic.”

Behind “Seinfeld” and its three hot new hits of the last two seasons--”ER,” “Friends” and “Frasier”--NBC has also won in total households four of the last five weeks and leads in the current May ratings sweeps.

However, ABC, which is scheduled to release its 1995-96 lineup today, remains No. 1 for the season in both total homes and with 18-to-49 viewers despite a lack of new hits. The shortage of new ABC hits is its greatest concern as it tries to hold off NBC.

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Here is NBC’s fall lineup:

Monday: “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “In the House,” “NBC Monday Night at the Movies.”

Tuesday: “Wings,” “NewsRadio,” “Frasier,” “The Pursuit of Happiness,” “Dateline NBC.”

Wednesday: “seaQuest DSV,” “Dateline NBC,” “Law & Order.”

Thursday: “Friends,” “Single Guy,” “Seinfeld,” “Caroline in the City,” “ER.”

Friday: “Unsolved Mysteries,” “Dateline NBC,” “Homicide: Life on the Street.”

Saturday: “JAG,” “The John Larroquette Show,” “The Home Court,” “Sisters.”

Sunday: “Brotherly Love,” “Minor Adjustments,” “Mad About You,” “Hope & Gloria,” “NBC Sunday Night at the Movies.”