Fox Keeps Up the Heat in Fall Lineup : Television: The network has actually become somewhat more mainstream, but its new schedule makes clear where its heart is--racy, adult-themed shows.

The Fox Broadcasting Co. continued its assault on traditional viewing patterns Tuesday, announcing a 1995-96 prime-time schedule that steps up racy, adult programming content in the 8 p.m. time slot once dominated by family shows.

In addition to such established 8 p.m. shows as “Martin,” “Melrose Place” and “Beverly Hills, 90210,” Fox will switch another adult-themed series, “Living Single,” to that early hour.

Other networks are following the same pattern, with NBC’s “Mad About You” and “Friends” and ABC’s “Roseanne” and “Ellen” also airing at 8 p.m. in the new fall season.

Fox, which along with ABC influenced all the networks in going for younger viewers favored by advertisers--primarily 18 to 49 years old--actually has become somewhat more mainstream as it approaches the anniversary of its first decade next year, but its new schedule makes clear where its heart is.

Of the six comedies and two dramas that are joining its lineup, all seem youth-oriented. One drama, “Space,” described as “the most ambitious science-fiction production in Fox’s history,” is about military cadets “hurled unexpectedly into the front-lines of an intergalactic war.” The show comes from the makers of Fox’s cult hit “The X-Files.”

A new comedy, “The Preston Episodes,” stars David Alan Grier (“In Living Color”) as a professor who abandons academia to become a journalist and winds up with a gossip magazine.

Other new Fox series are:

* “Strange Luck,” a drama with D.B. Sweeney as “a photojournalist who has suffered from an amazing streak of luck, both good and bad, since surviving a plane crash” as a child.

* “Cabin Pressure,” about “young and sexy” flight attendants.

* “Misery Loves Company,” a sitcom that looks at divorce and marriage “from the male perspective.” It’s about four friends, “one still looking for the woman of his dreams, the other three in the middle of horrible divorces.” Fox built its success by focusing hard on the 18- to 34-year-old male audience.

* “Ned and Stacey,” a comedy about an ambitious ad executive (Thomas Haden Church, from NBC’s “Wings”) “who enters into a marriage of convenience with a socially conscious journalist” (Deborah Messing).

* “Partners,” a sitcom from the supervising producers of the NBC hit “Friends.” In “Partners,” a young architect (Tate Donovan) is caught in a tug of war between his wife and best friend.

* “Too Something,” a comedy about two male friends who “work in the mail room of an investment banking firm” while pursuing their dreams. It stars Eric Schaeffer and Donal Lardner Ward and is loosely based on their film “My Life’s in Turnaround.”

Expanding its 8 p.m. adult programming, Fox is moving “Living Single” into the time slot on Thursdays while switching “Martin” from that night to the same hour on Saturdays. Fox is hoping that the back-to-back “Martin” and “The Preston Episodes” will give the network a strong hold on Saturday night.

The two Saturday comedies will be followed by “Cops” and “America’s Most Wanted,” which have both been trimmed from an hour to 30 minutes as the overall network cutback in reality shows and newsmagazines hits Fox as well. Madison Avenue reportedly is not so hot on such programs anymore, believing that they are tough to sell to sponsors.

John Matoian, president of the Fox Entertainment Group, agreed in an interview that the shows are harder to sell to advertisers but noted that they are less expensive to produce than entertainment. He called Saturday’s new schedule “my most aggressive move” and said he has “huge hopes for it.”

Although Fox’s “Dream On” comedy, picked up from HBO, is not on the schedule, Matoian said the show is not canceled and that it will offer other episodes this summer while he looks for a proper time slot.

On the other hand, Matoian said that another cult favorite, “VR.5,” is canceled: “While it had a hard-core following, that following was small. If you didn’t watch every episode, it was hard to jump in and know what was going on.”

Other Fox series from this season that will not return on the fall schedule include “Models Inc.,” “Hardball,” “Wild Oats,” “House of Buggin’,” “Sliders,” “The Critic,” “The George Carlin Show,” “Medicine Ball,” “Encounters,” “M.A.N.T.I.S.,” “Fortune Hunter,” “The Great Defender” and “Get Smart.”

Fox’s Sunday lineup, which has often been a bulwark for the network in its steady rise, has been overhauled. It now will lead off with “Space,” which will follow its National Football League games in the East and Midwest. Following “Space” are “The Simpsons,” “Too Something,” “Married . . . With Children” and “Misery Loves Company.”

As networks seek to stay afloat financially with increased in-house production, three of Fox’s new series--”Space,” “Cabin Pressure” and “The Preston Episodes”--will be produced by the network’s sister company, Twentieth Century Fox Television. A fourth show, “Strange Luck,” is produced by New World Television, with which Fox has a partnership. Fox now owns a piece of seven of its 20 series.

In other moves to achieve parity with network leaders ABC and NBC, Fox has struck a deal with Hallmark for monthly Tuesday productions of “gritty, urban, family movies” and is still planning another try at late-night weekday programming next year, Matoian said.

Here is Fox’s night-by-night schedule for fall:

Monday: “Melrose Place,” “Partners,” “Ned and Stacey.”

Tuesday: “The Fox Tuesday Night Movie.”

Wednesday: “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Party of Five.”

Thursday: “Living Single,” “Cabin Pressure,” “New York Undercover.”

Friday: “Strange Luck,” “The X-Files.”

Saturday: “Martin,” “The Preston Episodes,” “Cops,” “America’s Most Wanted.”

Sunday: “Space,” “The Simpsons,” “Too Something,” “Married . . . With Children,” “Misery Loves Company.”