Help with luminosity mask action

Friends, I could use some help creating a luminosity mask action for CS5. I have been reading and watching vids on the subject and want to incorporate it into my work flow. I tried downloading a canned action set from Greg Benz. And then created my own using the directions from a Dave Cross vid. To use them, I opened an image, and went to the Action panel. But when I loaded either of the actions, they all just loaded instantly to the History without any effect. I assumed, from the vids, that they would appear in the Channel window, and I could select among them and then apply a layer adjustment. Not sure why this is happening. Perhaps I am just not loading them correctly. I loaded the the pics as a Smart Images, but had the same experience. Perhaps this kind of function is not available in CS5?

Appreciate any help,

David