Martial Law
Genre	Action Crime Comedy
Created by	Carlton Cuse
Starring	Sammo Hung Arsenio Hall Kelly Hu Louis Mandylor Tom Wright Gretchen Egolf Tammy Lauren
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	44[1](list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Carlton Cuse Andre Morgan Stanley Tong Lee Goldberg William Rabkin Al Ruddy
Producers	Pam Veasey Jack Clements Jacquelyn Blain Barry Steinberg
Running time	42–45 minutes
Production companies	Carlton Cuse Productions Ruddy Morgan Productions 20th Century Fox Television CBS Productions[2]
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	September 26, 1998 (1998-09-26) – May 13, 2000 (2000-05-13)

Martial Law is an Americancrimeaction comedy television series created byCarlton Cuse that aired onCBS from September 26, 1998, to May 13, 2000.^[3][4] The title character, Sammo Law (Sammo Hung), is a Chinese law officer andmartial arts expert who comes toLos Angeles in search of a colleague and remains in the United States.^[5]

The show was a surprise hit, making Hung the onlyEast Asian headlining a primetime 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.^[6] In many scenes, Hung does not speak at all, makingMartial Law one of the few United States television series to feature little dialogue from the lead character.^[7][8] The show lasted two seasons, before being cancelled due to high production costs and Hung being unhappy with the writing of season two.^[9][10]

The basic storyline is that Sammo Law (Sammo Hung), a well-respected Chinese cop, is transferred to America. As he works for theLos Angeles Police Department, fighting crime inLos Angeles, he is met with a clash in culture. He is also the mentor of Grace "Pei Pei" Chen (Kelly Hu), anundercover officer. When American techniques do not work, Sammo employs some Chinese cop work to get the job done.

Sammo is sent by the Chinese government to apprehend an old nemesis, Lee Hei (Tzi Ma). He finds out that his disciple, Pei Pei, had infiltrated Lee Hei's criminal empire. His goal is to capture Lee Hei and end his criminal organization. This plot line was unresolved and season one ended in acliffhanger, although season two's premiere has Sammo alluding to Lee Hei's death (by way of accusing a one-shot villain of trying to avenge it). He is assisted in this by Grace (who joins the LAPD alongside him), Det. Louis Malone (Louis Mandylor) and Lt. Benjamin Winship (Tom Wright). Det. Dana Dixon (Tammy Lauren) is initially part of the team, but leaves after only five episodes; she is explained to have moved to another police force to be closer to her family. Halfway through the season, Lt. Terrell Parker (Arsenio Hall) joins the team and becomes Sammo's official partner.

Following the events of the previous season finale, and prior to the second-season premiere, Winship retires and Louis transfers to the NYPD, while Law decides to stay in Los Angeles and is now partnered with Grace. The department also gets a new captain, Amy Dylan, who thinks that the Chinese way of police work is not the best way of handling things. In addition, revelations are made of asecret society whose members include Law's long-lost son. While Law decided to return to China in the last episode, a line of dialogue leaves open the possibility of a follow-up.

"Honor Among Strangers" is part one of a crossover withWalker, Texas Ranger, wherein Sammo teams up with Cordell Walker to apprehend a hate-mongering former military officer who later escapes Walker's custody in theWalker, Texas Ranger episode "The Day of Cleansing" to which he summons Sammo to Dallas to help catch him again.

• Sammo Hung as Detective-Captain Sammo Law^[11]
• Arsenio Hall as Detective-Lieutenant Terrell Parker^[12]
• Kelly Hu as Detective Grace "Pei Pei" Chen
• Tammy Lauren as Detective Dana Doyle (season 1 – first five episodes)
• Louis Mandylor as Detective Louis Malone (season 1)
• Tom Wright as Lieutenant Benjamin Winship (season 1)
• Gretchen Egolf as Captain Amy Dylan (season 2)

The creator, Carlton Cuse, was aware that CBS was in need of a show that would attract young male viewers to its Saturday-night schedule.^[13]Stanley Tong suggested a cop show based onPolice Story 3: Super Cop, a movie that he directed and in whichJackie Chan starred.^[13] Jackie Chan was contacted by Tong, but declined^[13] (Chan was set to appear in episode five "Cop Out", strolling into the background of one scene, but the bit was cut from the final version).^[14]

Shannon Lee also was guest cast as Vanessa Feng in episode eight, "Take Out".^[15]

Tong then approached Sammo Hung, a good friend and occasional co-star of Chan's. Still eager to fill the 9 pm program slot, CBS agreed very quickly and production began on the series.^[13] After the first six episodes had aired, they knew it was a hit.^[13] The production, however, was not without complications, as Hung was used to the control over filming he had in Hong Kong and was not fluent in English.^[13] Hung was not delighted to be filming in early mornings and late night that American television productions require.^[13]

New executive producersLee Goldberg and William Rabkin took the helm at the beginning of the second season due to runaway production costs. They more or less pretended that the first season did not exist, retaining only the basic concept of a fish-out-of-water detective. Cast membersLouis Mandylor andTom Wright were dropped.Gretchen Egolf was brought in to play the unit's new leader, Amy Dylan, from the beginning of season two. Additionally, Parker's past in public relations was scrapped. The first season'scliffhanger ending (plus the dropping of Mandylor and Wright's characters) was explained away with a few throwaway lines.

Law madecrossover appearances on episodes ofEarly Edition andWalker, Texas Ranger, the former preceding it and the latter following it in its Saturday time slot.Chuck Norris'sWalker, Texas Ranger character,Cordell Walker, also made an appearance as part of the two-partMartial Law/Walker, Texas Ranger crossover.

After season two, CBS offered Sammo Hung a third season, but Hung said he would not do it without a final say on scripts, claiming that the new screenwriter CBS assigned to the show for season two made him nothing but a fighting machine.^[9] An article in the magazineBlack Belt mentions that due to the $2 million cost of production per episode, the show was cancelled.^[16]

In the UK and Ireland, the show used to air onFive from 1998 to 2005, then onITV4 showing replays of the episodes from 2005 to 2007 and then onBravo from 2009 to 2011. In France,Martial Law (Le Flic de Shanghaï) can be seen onM6 andW9. It was previously broadcast on Britain's Channel 5 at 8 pm on Sundays, scoring high ratings in 98, Australia'sSeven Network in 1998, onATV in Hung's native Hong Kong, onTV4 in Sweden and on TV3, Sky1, and Channel 4 in New Zealand. It was previously broadcast on Dubai-basedMBC 2, but can now be seen onMBC Action. In Germany, the series was broadcast onVOX. In Brazil, the series can be seen onRede Bandeirantes since November 2007 asUm Policial da Pesada ("A heavy-set cop"). In Colombia, the series was broadcast onRCN Television.InHungary, the series aired onRTL Klub asA harc törvénye ("The rules of engagement").

Also inIndonesia, from 2000 to 2002 it was aired onIndosiar every Monday night.

For many years, fans had petitioned for the show to be released onto DVD.^[28]

On May 4, 2015, it was announced thatVisual Entertainment had acquired the rights to the series and will be releasing the complete series on DVD for the first time in the early spring of 2016 in the United States and Canada.^[29] According to Visual Entertainment the Boxset was released on August 30, 2016 and also includes thecrossover episodes from the showsEarly Edition andWalker, Texas Ranger.^[30]

The show aired on Saturday nights throughout its run.

• Martial Law atIMDb
• Martial Law Television Show:Martial Law content and media
• Fan page
• Martial Law scripts by executive producers Lee Goldberg & William Rabkin

• American action television series
• 1990s American crime television series
• 2000s American crime television series
• American martial arts television series
• CBS original programming
• 1998 American television series debuts
• 2000 American television series endings
• 1990s American comedy television series
• 2000s American comedy television series
• Television series by 20th Century Fox Television
• Television series by CBS Studios
• Television series created by Carlton Cuse
• Television shows set in Los Angeles
• American English-language television shows
• Television series about the Los Angeles Police Department
• American action adventure television series
• Chinese American television

• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from January 2012
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from March 2025