NBC, feeling the heat despite finishing as the No. 1 network for the fifth year in a row, has made some major changes for its 1990-91 schedule.

The Peacock, which saw its ratings drop and all of last fall's new series fail, will introduce six hours of new programming - nine shows in all - as well as shake up the schedule every day of the week.Even NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff acknowledged that his network struggled this past season, losing about a million viewers while ABC held steady - and closed the gap between No. 1 and No. 2.

"This new schedule represents an aggressive strategy by NBC to remain dominant in prime time . . . ," he said. "We have recognized our vulnerable positions and attacked them aggressively with diverse and exciting programming."

NBC is betting the public has an insatiable desire for comedies. It's adding six new sitcoms - for a total of 16 - and an hour-long musical comedy, plus a new drama and a "reality-based" drama.

The schedule includes 19 returning shows, three of which got spring tryouts - "Carol & Company," "Wings" and "Grand."

Last fall's five new series - "Baywatch," "Hardball," "The Nutt House," "Mancuso FBI" and "Sister Kate" - have all been canceled. Other NBC shows biting the dust include "Alf," "Ann Jillian," "Down Home," "A Family for Joe," "My Two Dads," "Nasty Boys," "True Blue," "227," "Shannon's Deal," and "Working Girl." "The Hogan Family" is moving to CBS in the fall.

The only real surprise among the cancellations is "Shannon's Deal," which got OK ratings but high critical praise.

The long running "Amen" isn't on the schedule but has already received an order to produce a full season's worth of shows and will return "in the first available time period."

"Magical World of Disney" has also been canceled, but the The Disney Comedy Adventure Hour, which will feature half-hour action comedies, will go into production shortly and will compete for a spot on the schedule in January.

NBC's new comedies are:

-Fresh Prince of Bel Air (Mondays at 7 p.m.): Rap music star The Fresh Prince (Wil Smith) plays a kid from a tough Philadelphia neighborhood who goes to live with rich relatives in Bel Air.

-Ferris Bueller (Mondays at 7:30 p.m.): Charlie Schlatter, who starred in the movie "18 Again," takes over title role that Mathew Broderick played in the movie. Ferris is a "clever young man who schemes to prevent high school from interfering with his pursuit of happiness."

-The Fanelli Boys (Wednesdays at 8 p.m.): Theresa Fanelli (Ann Guilbert), is the widowed matriarch of a Brooklyn-based middle-class Italian family who orders her four adult sons to move back home to straighten out their lives. From the former writers and producers of "The Golden Girls."

-Parenthood (Saturdays at 8 p.m.): Based on the movie, this show may feature the largest regular cast in the history of sitcoms - the 15 regulars include Ed Begley Jr., Jayne Atkinson, William Windom and Sheila MacRae. It sort of picks up where the movie left off but backs up before all the happy endings.

-Working It Out (Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.): Jane Curtin returns in a show produced by Bill Persky, who also produced her long-running "Kate and Allie." Curtin co-stars with Stephen Collins ("Tattinger's") are two divorced people who meet and work things out amid their hectic lives.

-American Dreamer: (Saturdays at 9:30 p.m.) Two more series veterans, Robert Urich ("Spenser for Hire," "Vegas") and Carol Kane ("Taxi") star in this comedy about a widower who gives up his career as a TV correspondent to raise his two children and write a newspaper column. From the producers of "Family Ties."

-Hull St. High (Sundays at 6 p.m.): Shades of "Fame" - this hourlong musical comedy about the events at Cordell Hull Street High School includes "music lurking around every corner." Among the cast are rappers G. Love E., Phillip DeMarks, Trey Parker and Carl Anthony Payne star.

And NBC's new dramas are:

-Signs of Life (Sundays at 7 p.m.): Certainly NBC's biggest gamble, the network describes this show as a "true-to life mosaic showing how illness affects a patient both medically and personally, focusing entirely on the patient's point of view."

-Law and Order (Tuesdays at 9 p.m.): This show is a combination of the popular cop and lawyer genres: It's about a pair of New York police detectives and a pair of assistant district attorneys.

Friday nights have been a particular disaster for NBC, so it has started from scratch, albeit with four shows moved from other nights. And Saturdays have become all-sitcom, with six of the half-hour shows filling the evening.

NBC's 1990-91 primetime schedule:

Sunday: 6 p.m. "Hull St. High;" 7 p.m. "Signs of Life;" 8 p.m. "NBC Sunday Night at the Movies."

Monday: 7 p.m. "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air;" 7:30 p.m. "Ferris Bueller;" 8 p.m. "NBC Monday Night at the Movies."

Tuesday: 7 p.m. "Matlock;" 8 p.m. "In the Heat of the Night;" 9 p.m. "Law and Order."

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Wednesday: 7 p.m. "Unsolved Mysteries;" 8 p.m. "The Fanelli Boys;" 8:30 p.m. "Dear John;" 9 p.m. "Hunter."

Thursday: 7 p.m. "The Cosby Show;" 7:30 p.m. "A Different World;" 8 p.m. "Cheers;" 8:30 p.m "Grand;" 9 p.m. "L.A. Law."

Friday: 7 p.m. "Quantum Leap;" 8 p.m. "Night Court;" 8:30 p.m. "Wings;" 9 p.m. "Midnight Caller."

Saturday: 7 p.m. "Parenthood;" 7:30 p.m. "Working It Out;" 8 p.m. "The Golden Girls;" 8:30 p.m. "Empty Nest;" 9 p.m. "Carol & Company;" 9:30 p.m. "American Dreamer."

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