Martial Law (TV series)

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 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). 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 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.

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 on Police Story 3: Super Cop, a movie that he directed and in which Jackie 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 producers Lee 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 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 two. 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, Texas Ranger character, Cordell Walker, also made an appearance as part of the two-part Martial 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 magazine Black Belt mentions that due to the $2 million cost of production per episode, the show was cancelled.[16]

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

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 in the United States and Canada.[29] According to Visual Entertainment the Boxset was released on August 30, 2016 and also includes the crossover episodes from the shows Early Edition and Walker, Texas Ranger.[30]