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Martial LAW CBS 9-10 PM Starts Sept. 25

Apparently, the operative credo at Martial Law headquarters last year was ''If it ain't broke, fix it anyway.'' CBS' chopsocky actioner starring Hong Kong heavyweight Sammo Hung held the ironic distinction of being one of the season's most impressive newcomers (winning its 9 p.m. Saturday time slot for the year) while receiving the most tinkering. Tammy Lauren got the heave-ho when martial-arts babe Kelly Hu became a regular, and Arsenio Hall came aboard soon after as obnoxious, streetwise sidekick Terrell Parker.

''Anyone who watched last year could see that the show was in search of itself,'' says new coexecutive producer Lee Goldberg, who will take over with partner Bill Rabkin. ''It was basically T.J. Hooker with spin kicks.''

The pair's vision for this year? A reemphasis on Hung's stranger-in-a-strange-land plight, a greater focus on the Hung-Hu-Hall trio (aided by the off-season exit of costars Louis Mandylor and Tom Wright), and a general lightening of mood. ''We're not going to make Sammo Hung an Asian Sipowicz,'' says Goldberg. ''We want it to be a throwback to shows [like] It Takes a Thief, The Saint, and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. -- shows that took you away from your problems.''

The biggest makeover goes to Hall's character, who began as an LAPD publicist and rather unconvincingly metamorphosed into a full-fledged detective. ''We're pretending that last year didn't exist,'' says Goldberg. ''[Now] he's been a cop, and he's a damn good cop. Sammo's not his teacher, he's his partner.''

As for Hu, the producers will finally have her black-belted knockout, Grace Chen, breaking hearts as well as limbs. Rabkin says, ''She's one of the most beautiful women in the world, but [last season] she looked like she was selling insurance.'' So expect Hu to spend more time undercover -- in a succession of fetching disguises, natch. ''We want her to be the Emma Peel of the new millennium,'' Rabkin adds.

Despite the sexier approach, Hall, for one, isn't holding his breath for any workplace romance. Though he briefly ponders an interracial tryst between Terrell and Law's new twentysomething squad leader Amy Dylan (Gretchen Egolf), he laughingly dismisses it as a little too jolting for the Tiffany network: ''All of a sudden, 'Welcome Home' would become 'Nobody's Home.''' -- MIKE FLAHERTY

Early EDITION CBS, 8-9 p.m.

Gary (Kyle Chandler, above) will keep getting tomorrow's newspaper today -- but he'll do it in a new wardrobe. ''My wife and other women who watch the show would like to see him out of plaids and a little more upscale,'' says executive producer Jeff Melvoin. ''We're having trouble getting him out of his blue jeans, but at least he's wearing different shirts.'' Stop the presses! (Sept. 25)

The PRETENDER NBC, 9-10 p.m.

Michael T. Weiss' Jarod (above) goes on ''helping the little guy -- stopping abuses of power and whatnot,'' says executive producer Craig Van Sickle. He'll pose as a Beverly Hills sex therapist, an extreme jock, a hostage negotiator, an Army special investigator, and a David Blaine-like magician. So, will Jarod be buried alive? ''No,'' says the episode's writer, Tommy Thompson. ''But I will be if it doesn't work.'' (Sept. 25)


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