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___________[ J O Y C E_.M I L L M A N__O N_.T E L E V I S I O N ] fufighter HONG KONG ACTION FILM VET SAMMO HUNG KICKS SOME LIFE INTO PRIME TIME IN "MARTIAL LAW." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sammo Hung is the biggest star on TV. No, really -- his weight has been listed as, variously, 230 and 245 pounds, all of which seems to have settled in his belly. But as the nimble-footed lead on CBS's surprise chopsocky hit "Martial Law," Hung is the tube's most agile fat man since John Belushi. The 46-year-old Hung may be a new face to most American viewers, but he's a Hong Kong film industry veteran. He developed his acrobatic fighting style at the Peking Opera School in the same class as Jackie Chan, and made his film debut in Bruce Lee's "Enter the Dragon." He has worked as an actor, director and/or fight choreographer on more than 100 kung fu films, including his breakthrough 1978 martial arts comedy "Enter the Fat Dragon" (which has just been released on video for the first time) and several "three brothers" films with Chan and fellow Peking Opera School classmate Yuen Bao. (Hung's filmography is also filled with such colorful titles as "Magnificent Butcher," "Owl vs. Dumbo" and "Pantyhose Hero.") Hung directed Chan in last year's "Mr. Nice Guy" and has recently finished directing Jet Li in "Once Upon a Time in America and China." In the action/comedy/drama series "Martial Law," Hung plays a Shanghai cop named Sammo Law who joins the Los Angeles Police Department. Hung does all his own fu, and, boy, is it impressive. Among his best moves are his hands of lightning bit, where he picks up whatever long skinny object is nearby (a rake, a microphone stand), twirls it around real fast and puts the choke hold on the bad guy. And, of course, there are his cool trademark back flips. The co-executive producers of "Martial Law," Hong Kong action film pioneer Stanley Tong (who directed Chan's "Rumble in the Bronx") and "Nash Bridges" creator Carlton Cuse, make sure that Hung gets plenty of opportunity to cut loose. Every episode of "Martial Law" is constructed around three big fight scenes -- one before the opening credits, one at approximately 9:22 and one at about 9:48. And you can always tell by the setting of a scene when a fight is coming. Rule No. 1: If Sammo is cooking in a kitchen, you can bet those knives and iron skillets are going to be used for more than just the stir fry. But, then, one of the most endearing qualities of "Martial Law" is its good-natured predictability. The thugs Sammo takes on, whether white, black, Latino, Asian, neo-Nazi, gangsta, young or old, fight kung fu style. Nobody dies, no matter how harshly Sammo whales on them. "Martial Law" is a live-action cartoon; there's nothing very dark, disturbing or nuanced here. There's even a cute blooper reel of Hung flubbing his lines and tangling with faulty props at the end of every show. "Martial Law" makes Cuse's other retro lite-action show, "Nash Bridges," look like "Homicide: Life on the Street." Still, watching Sammo and Company is like being pleasantly transported back to your adolescence as an uncritical absorber of action junk like "Batman" and "Starsky and Hutch." "Martial Law" is an almost perfect definition of a guilty pleasure; you know better, really you do, but it's just so much fun. N E X T_P A G E _| Sammo meets Arsenio