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FU FIGHTER | PAGE 1, 2 - - - - - - - - - - The premise of "Martial Law" is pretty ridiculous. Sammo follows a female protégé from the Chinese police force, who has gone deep undercover on a case, to Los Angeles. About a minute and a half later, he's being invited to join the LAPD. It's the old fish out of water story: Sammo is constantly faced with such baffling aspects of Los Angeles life as rap culture (he drives a police-impounded convertible with the license plate "Da Bomb") and the lines at the Department of Motor Vehicles. The twist is that while Sammo may have trouble with his English (Hung appears to be reciting his lines phonetically), he's nobody's fool. He's a renaissance man -- he fights, cooks, plays electric guitar, is good with small children and when he's a contestant on "The Price is Right," he knows what everything costs (he used to watch tons of American TV back home). Sammo is the wise naif, a characterization nudged along by Hung's perpetually wide-eyed, poker faced demeanor and halting delivery. Buddah-bellied and childlike, dispensing fortune cookie aphorisms ("To know an opponent's weaknesses, you must first learn his strengths"), Sammo might be considered a troubling stereotype -- if "Martial Law" wasn't so resoundingly Chinese-positive. The large number of Chinese names in the show's production, acting and writing credits is unprecedented for prime-time network TV. And despite relocating to America, Sammo retains his cultural identity and traditions: He sings a Chinese lullaby to a little girl; his Buddhist shrines are prominently displayed; he practices tai chi. Sammo is portrayed as the "good" immigrant who successfully balances the old ways and the new. By contrast, Sammo's fu-fighting protégé, the beautiful, American-educated Chen Pei Pei, has also joined the LAPD, but she goes by the name "Grace Chen" now, dates Anglos and ducks phone calls from her anguished parents back in Hong Kong. In one heavily symbolic scene, she nearly gags at the sight of the traditional pig intestine dish Sammo prepares for her. Undaunted, Sammo forges on, determined to keep feeding Grace the culture of her ancestors. And whenever some (usually white) villain disses Sammo's ethnicity ... well, you don't have to be Asian to recognize Sammo as a hero whose time has come in multi-hued -- but still small-minded -- America. Recently, "Martial Law" has undergone some tweaking to make it even more multi-hued (or less, depending on your point of view). Blond Tammy Lauren, one of the original cast members, was written out of the show, making Kelly Hu's Grace Chen the female lead and leaving Louis Mandylor's buff Detective Louis Malone the show's only white regular. And in the Nov. 21 episode, Arsenio Hall joined the cast as Lt. Terrell Parker, a motor-mouthed public relations officer who wants to get back on the street and is partnered with Sammo. Are you thinking Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in "Rush Hour"? You should be. Obviously, Tong and Cuse believe that Hall is the missing piece of the puzzle that will boost the show into the Top 10, and Hall does inject some personality into the competent but bland supporting cast. But it's dangerous tampering with the fragile, mysterious ecosystem of a guilty pleasure, and I fear that the so-corny-it's-good glory days of "Martial Law" are over already. The addition of camera-hog Hall threatens to transform "Martial Law" from a pleasing oddity with a TV hero like no other into your basic buddy show. And let's face it -- does Sammo look like he needs a buddy? SALON | Dec. 7, 1998