Le flic de Shanghai

I loved this show. This was just mindless entertainment for me. It made me almost forgot the problems of the day or week.

I read some comments saying that Sammo Hung fighting reminded him of Jackie Chan's fighting craziness. I hope so - since they both grew up together the China. Sammo, Jackie and another martial arts actor Yeun Biao(sp?) grew up together and made movies (sometimes, acting together). They were called, in Hong Kong, "The Three Brothers". Their fighting styles were somewhat similar. Here is some small tidbits of info on the show: - In the pilot episode, Sammo had to do his own stunts. From what I read in the papers at the time, his personal stuntman had problems with his paperwork so he couldn't be there to double for Sammo.

• In one episode, I found out later, Jackie Chan made a small appearance as a drunk. It was done as a favor from one brother to another. Now, I have to see which episode and what point of the episode.

When "Martial Law" premiered, I was hooked. Sure, it wasn't great art or fabulous writing on display, but the show was goofy fun. But then bit by bit, the producers tinkered with the show, and with each adjustment, the show became worse.

The first misstep happened shortly after the theatrical movie "Rush Hour" became a hit. The producers must have thought "Hey! What this show needs is an obnoxious, hip, and streetwise partner for Sammo Hung!" Shortly afterwards, Arsenio Hall became a cast member, and his character was EXTREMELY annoying.

The next misstep was when the second season of the show premiered. First, the producers had fired several cast members, despite these fired actors and their characters being a very likable bunch. They also ignored or quickly wrote out the plot threads that had been going along in the previous season.

After some time, the producers tinkered with the show again. Suddenly Kelly Hu's character had a COMPLETELY different background, and the show suddenly had the characters fighting with a secret organization that threatened the city each week. This organization was treated with the same goofiness of the evil secret organization in the "Inspector Gadget" animated series.

Fortunately, the show was cancelled after the second season had played out. (And around this time, to Arsenio Hall's credit, he admitted that the show was terrible.) Since this series only ran two seasons, it is highly unlikely that the show will be seen in syndication, at least in North America. Just as well. If you DO get the chance to see the show, watch it until Arsenio Hall appears. Then stop watching!

I can't say enough good things about this show. As a 18-year old action loving teenager, I think this is the best action show on television. But enough about me, let's talk about the show. The show centers on Sammo Law, played by Sammo Hung, as a Chinese cop who trades places with a cop from L.A. Sammo and his student, Grace/Pei-Pei, begin to work as detectives on the L.A.P.D., under the command of Lt. Windship (Tom Wright). Arsenio Hall was thrown into the mix, just for comic relief, as Tyrell Parker. And Louis Mandylor rounds out the group as detective Louis Malone. The characters all work great together. The best part of the show, however, is Sammo's martial arts moves. Sammo is a big guy, but he still manages to kick butt like it's nobody's business. Martial Law is way superior to Walker, Texas Ranger, Nash Bridges, and Sons of Thunder all put together. More people should watch this show so it won't canceled or anything like that.

"Not slow, just fat"

I've been watching this show from the beginning, and I think I'll continue to do so. The action is good, and the story is, as far as I can see, devoid of stupid little flaws. (Then again, I haven't been looking for them). However, the first episode of the second (?) season (the one with the new chief and Jerry Doyle as McQueen) had a small flaw that I noticed without running it on slow motion: A pair of handcuffs breaking, then being whole again in the next cut. I hope there's not a lot of these, as I will be looking forward to the next episode.

The best things about it, in my opinion, are Sammo's wit and a great pace.

"Martial Law" is your standard cop show in one way - the actual "cop stuff" is the usual nonsense you can see anywhere on TV, the "same old same old" which makes real cops wince. What makes this show worth watching is the incredible martial arts prowess of the cast - especially Sammo Hung. Just like Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-Fat, Sammo trained at the Peking Opera School, which makes for a unique - and often funny - style of martial arts. The entire cast works well together, and they can all actually *act* - unlike a certain 'Texas Ranger' who comes on after this show. Lots of comedy in this show - they don't (usually) go for the cheap "Chinaman in America" jokes, and they actually seem to remember what they've done from one show to the next. All of the martial arts used on the set are real - Sammo, obviously, is an expert, and Louis Mandylor ("Louis") is trained in "muy thai" (Thai kickboxing), while Tammy Lauren ("Dana") is a black belt in Karate [I haven't heard a real reason for her departure], and Kellu Hu ("Grace / Pei Pei") is a brown belt in Karate. Tom Wright ("Lt. Winship") is a former stuntman, and does his own stunts in the show as well. And, just as with Jackie Chan's movies, at the end of every episode they have a brief "outtakes" section, showing some of the goofs that occured during the filming of the episode.

Good acting, decent plots, and plenty of kick-butt action, as well as many comedic moments (Sammo playing "Smoke On The Water" on the guitar...) make this a show to watch.