Martial Law (TV series)
| Martial Law | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre |
Action Crime drama |
| Created by | Carlton Cuse |
| Starring |
Sammo Hung Arsenio Hall Kelly Hu Louis Mandylor Tom Wright Gretchen Egolf Tammy Lauren |
| Country of origin | United States Canada |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 44 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 45 minutes. |
| Production company(s) | Carlton Cuse Productions Ruddy Morgan Productions 20th Century Fox Television CBS Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS (1998-2000) |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Original release | September 26, 1998 – May 13, 2000 |
Martial Law (Traditional Chinese: 過江龍) is an American/Canadian action crime drama series that aired on CBS from 1998 to 2000, and was created by Carlton Cuse. The title character, Sammo Law, portrayed by Sammo Hung, was a Chinese law officer and martial arts expert who came to Los Angeles in search of a colleague and remains in the US.
The show was a surprise hit, making Hung the only East Asian headlining a prime-time network series in the United States. At the time, Hung was not fluent in English and worried about the audience's ability to understand him. In many scenes, Hung did not speak at all, making Martial Law perhaps the only US television series in history that featured so little dialogue from the lead character.
The cast faced turnover from the beginning. Detective Dana Dickson (played by Tammy Lauren) exited the show after Episode 6, "Extreme Measures", as she moved away to live with "her parents" as noted on the following episode. Then on Episode 9, "How Sammo Got His Groove Back", Arsenio Hall joined the cast as Terrell Parker, a wisecracking former LAPD press liaison who began helping out Sammo and the gang on cases. The pairing of Hung and Hall as partners was similar to, albeit a bit less overtly comedic than, the partnership between Sammo's friend, Jackie Chan, and Chris Tucker in the Rush Hour feature films. At the end of the episode "Cop Out", when Sammo Law is driving through Los Angeles, a sign is seen which advertises Rush Hour, as the movie was released at the time of the episode. Tzi Ma, who portrayed Consul Han in Rush Hour, guest starred as villain Lee Hei for six episodes in this series.
The creator, Carlton Cuse was aware that CBS was in need of a shows that would attract young male viewers to its Saturday night schedule. Stanley Tong suggested a cop show based on "Police Story 3: Super Cop" a movie that he directed and Jackie Chan starred in. Jackie Chan was contacted by Tong, but declined.
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