Martial Law (TV series)
Martial Law | |
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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 | English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 44 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Running time | 45 minutes. |
Production companies | Carlton Cuse Productions Ruddy Morgan Productions 20th Century Fox Television CBS Productions |
Original release | |
Network | CBS (1998-2000)[1] |
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.[2][3] 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.[4]
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 he reportedly recited some of his dialogue phonetically.[5] 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.[6][7]
Cast
- Sammo Hung as Sammo Law (Seasons 1 and 2, all episodes)[8]
- Arsenio Hall as Terrell Parker (Seasons 1 and 2)[9]
- Kelly Hu as Grace "Pei Pei" Chen (Seasons 1 and 2, all episodes)
- Tammy Lauren as Dana Dickson (Season 1, first five episodes)
- Louis Mandylor as Louis Malone (Season 1)
- Tom Wright as Benjamin Winship (Season 1)
- Gretchen Egolf as Amy Dylan (Season 2)
Supporting cast
The cast endured 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 Council Han in Rush Hour, guest starred as villain Lee Hei for six episodes in this series.
Changes
New executive producers Lee Goldberg & 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 members Louis Mandylor and Tom Wright were dropped. Gretchen Egolf was brought in to play the unit's new leader, Amy Dylan, from the beginning of Season 2. Additionally, Parker's past in public relations was scrapped. The first season's cliffhanger ending (plus the dropping of Mandylor and Wright's characters) was explained away with a few throwaway lines.
Law made crossover appearances on episodes of Early Edition and Walker, Texas Ranger, the former preceding it and the latter following it in its Saturday time slot. Chuck Norris's Walker character, Cordell Walker, also made an appearance as part of the two-part Martial Law/Walker, Texas Ranger crossover.
Story
The basic storyline is that Sammo Law, a well-respected Chinese cop, is transferred to America. As he works for the police department, fighting crime in Los Angeles, he is met with a clash in culture. He is also the mentor of Grace "Pei Pei" Chen, an undercover officer. When American techniques do not work, Sammo employs some Chinese cop work to get the job done.
Season 1 plot
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. Unfortunately, this plot line was unresolved and Season 1 ended in a cliffhanger, 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). Dana Dickson (Tammy Lauren) was initially billed as a main character but left after only a few episodes; it was explained that she had moved to another police force to be closer to her family.
Season 2 plot
After Winship's retirement and Louis's transfer to the NYPD, Law decides to stay in Los Angeles and is now partnered with Pei Pei. 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, there are revelations of a secret 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.
Cancellation
After season 2, CBS offered Sammo Hung a third season, however Sammo said it was very unlikely to happen. Sammo said that the new screenwriter CBS assigned to the show for season 2 made him nothing but a fighting machine and so he would not do it without a final say on scripts.[10]
Episodes
"Honor Among Strangers" is part one of a crossover with Walker, Texas Ranger where Sammo teams with Cordell Walker to apprehend a hatemongering former military officer who later escapes Walker's custody in the Walker, Texas Ranger episode "The Day of Cleansing".
Ratings
Season | U.S. ratings | Network | Rank | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1998–1999 | 11.00 million | CBS | #57 |
2 | 1999–2000 | 10.08 million | CBS | #59 |
The show aired on Saturday nights throughout its run.
International broadcasters
In Ireland and the UK, Martial Law has been broadcast on Bravo throughout the week. In Britain the show used to air on Five from 1998–2005, then on ITV4 showing replays of the episodes from 2005–2007, from 2009 onwards Bravo have acquired the rights to show replays of the show. In France, Martial Law (Le Flic de Shanghaï) can be seen on M6 and W9. It was previously broadcast on Britain's Channel 5 at 8pm on Sundays scoring high ratings in 98, Australia's Seven Network in 1998, on ATV in Hong Kong, on TV4 in Sweden and on TV3, Sky1 and Channel 4 in New Zealand. It was previously broadcast on Dubai based MBC 2 but can now be seen on MBC Action. In Germany the series was broadcast on VOX. In Brazil, the series can be seen on Rede Bandeirantes since November 2007 as Um Policial da Pesada ("A heavy-set cop"). In Colombia the series was broadcast on RCN Television. In Hungary the series aired on RTL Klub as A harc törvénye ("The rules of engagement").
Home media releases
VCD
Release date |
Release title |
Country |
Publisher |
Format |
Language | Subtitles | Notes |
Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 January 2000 | Martial Law: Shanghai Express | Hong Kong | Deltamac (HK) | NTSC | English | Traditional Chinese | 1 VCD | [11] |
15 April 2005 | Martial Law: Diamond Fever | Hong Kong | Deltamac (HK) | NTSC | English | Traditional Chinese | 1 VCD | [12] |
15 April 2005 | Martial Law: Dead Ringers | Hong Kong | Deltamac (HK) | NTSC | English | Traditional Chinese | 1 VCD | [13] |
15 April 2005 | Martial Law: Funny Money | Hong Kong | Deltamac (HK) | NTSC | English | Traditional Chinese | 1 VCD | [14] |
15 April 2005 | Martial Law: Extreme Mesures | Hong Kong | Deltamac (HK) | NTSC | English | Traditional Chinese | 1 VCD | [15] |
15 April 2005 | Martial Law: Trackdown | Hong Kong | Deltamac (HK) | NTSC | English | Traditional Chinese | 1 VCD | [16] |
15 April 2005 | Martial Law: Take Out | Hong Kong | Deltamac (HK) | NTSC | English | Traditional Chinese | 1 VCD | [17] |
15 April 2005 | Martial Law: Lock-Up | Hong Kong | Deltamac (HK) | NTSC | English | Traditional Chinese | 1 VCD | [18] |
15 April 2005 | Martial Law: Substitutes | Hong Kong | Deltamac (HK) | NTSC | English | Traditional Chinese | 1 VCD | [19] |
15 April 2005 | Martial Law: Trifecta | Hong Kong | Deltamac (HK) | NTSC | English | Traditional Chinese | 1 VCD | [20] |
15 April 2005 | Martial Law Collection | Hong Kong | Deltamac (HK) | NTSC | English | Traditional Chinese | 10 VCD's | [21] |
DVD
For many years fans had petitioned for the show to be released onto DVD.[22]
On May 4, 2015, it was announced that Visual 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.[23]
Notes
- ^ "Cbs' Gamble: Sammo Hung". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
- ^ "MASTER OF 'MARTIAL LAW'". The New York Daily News. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
{{cite news}}
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ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) [dead link] - ^ Flaherty, Mike (1998-10-09). "Chop Shtick". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
- ^ McDonald, William (1998-09-26). "Kung Fu Show Adds Star, Hoping For a Hit". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
- ^ Johnson, Allan (1999-05-07). "`Martial Law's' Hung Is Changing Stereotypes". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
- ^ Sterngold, James (1998-11-19). "TELEVISION REVIEW; Body Slams Illumined by Aphorisms". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
- ^ Rosenberg, Howard (1998-09-26). "If Your Fantasy Is Fascinating Shows, Forget It; TV reviews: 'Fantasy Island' treads water; 'Martial Law,' 'Cupid' don't zing". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
- ^ "Television: Mean Unlean Machine". Time. 1998-10-19. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
- ^ Michaelson, Judith (1998-10-31). "MORNING REPORT; Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation's press". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
- ^ "Sammo Hung refused to shoot "Martial Law III"". singtao.com. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
- ^ "Martial Law: Shanghai Express". yesasia.com. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ^ "Martial Law: Diamond Fever". yesasia.com. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ^ "Martial Law: Dead Ringers". yesasia.com. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ^ "Martial Law: Funny Money". yesasia.com. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ^ "Martial Law: Extreme Mesures". yesasia.com. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ^ "Martial Law: Trackdown". yesasia.com. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ^ "Martial Law: Take Out". yesasia.com. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ^ "Martial Law: Lock-Up". yesasia.com. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ^ "Martial Law: Substitutes". yesasia.com. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ^ "Martial Law: Trifecta". yesasia.com. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ^ "Martial Law Collection". yesasia.com. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ^ Martial Law on DVD
- ^ Martial Law DVD news: Update about Martial Law | TVShowsOnDVD.com
External links
- Martial Law at 20th Century Fox
- Martial Law at IMDb
- Template:Tv.com show
- 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
- American crime television series
- Martial arts television series
- CBS network shows
- 1998 American television series debuts
- 1998 Canadian television series debuts
- 2000 American television series endings
- 2000 Canadian television series endings
- 1990s American television series
- 1990s Canadian television series
- 2000s American television series
- 2000s Canadian television series
- Television series by 20th Century Fox Television
- Television series by CBS Television Studios
- Television shows set in Los Angeles, California
- American comedy-drama television series
- Canadian comedy-drama television series
- English-language television programming