Rob Lowe is ready to let the good times roll

Entering his sixth consecutive TV season, Rob Lowe is taking a gamble on another new series.

After four years on “The West Wing” and a short tenure in 2003’s “The Lyon’s Den,” the ever-boyish actor is lightening things up by playing a medic whose turf is a bustling casino in the CBS comedy-drama “Dr. Vegas,” which premieres Friday. Dr. Billy Grant operates out of a posh Las Vegas penthouse at the 24/7 beck and call of the site’s general manager, Tommy Danko (Joe Pantoliano, on the same network and night he had a year ago with “The Handler”).

If he’s not meeting Danko’s immediate needs, Grant usually is tending to hotel guests, sometimes under the skeptical watch of a more conservative doctor (Amy Adams), and always under the Hippocratic-heightening credo he voices in the pilot episode, “What happens in Vegas does stay in Vegas.” Sarah Lancaster (“Everwood”) portrays a blackjack dealer who sometimes needs the doctor’s help -- and vice versa.

Las Vegas certainly isn’t hurting for TV attention these days, and Lowe says his interest in doing another show set there came from wanting to play “someone a little more devil-may-care, with sort of a fun, bad-boy quality. I played some roles like that earlier in my career, in ‘About Last Night ... ‘ and ‘St. Elmo’s Fire,’ and I had a really good time with them. On both ‘The West Wing’ and ‘The Lyon’s Den,’ those guys were unbelievably earnest, and I was thinking it might be fun to play a little bit of a [wiseguy].”

Not everyone wants such a person treating them medically, which Lowe recognizes. “One of my favorite doctors in television history -- we should be so lucky to be mentioned in the same breath, I realize -- is Hawkeye Pierce [‘MASH’]. That’s sort of the road we aspire to walk: someone who is great at what he does but, in his personal life and behind closed doors, is an iconoclast who doesn’t take [anything] from anybody and likes to stir it up.”

For the generally rambunctious spirit it promotes, “Dr. Vegas” also has medical-show heft, since one of its executive producers and writers is “ER” veteran Jack Orman. “Coming to this late in the process,” he reflects, “the fun part for me was seeing that Rob and Joey already had very specific characters in mind. I come from a show that’s very serious, so to sort of unwind and let that comedic element come through in the writing is fun. Rob was like, ‘Come on. Come in the water. It’s good.’ ”

Lowe is enjoying the repartee, both on- and off-camera, with his new costars. He feels he and Pantoliano have “a great thing going. It’s easy for me when I have Joey to work with, because he’s just a great actor and he makes me laugh.”

Lancaster, he says, has “great charisma.” Because Warner Bros. Television produces both “Dr. Vegas” and the WB network’s “Everwood,” the producers of “Everwood” expect to be able to bring Lancaster back for at least one guest shot this year. In last season’s finale, her character, Madison, found herself pregnant by a younger man, Ephram (Gregory Smith). “She’s in quite the dilemma right now,” Lancaster says, “and I’m waiting to find out what they do with that character too. I’d love to go back.”

For Pantoliano, who as mobster Ralphie died a vicious death on HBO’s “The Sopranos,” “Dr. Vegas” continues a long association with CBS. “I feel really lucky to be liked so much by this network,” says the actor widely known as “Joey Pants.” “I was very proud of ‘EZ Streets,’ but I think it was a little bit before its time, probably the precursor to ‘The Sopranos.’ ”

There’s irony to Pantoliano’s newest role, since he admits, “I don’t like Vegas. I never have. I come from a long line of degenerate gamblers, and gambling always made me nervous.”

The same goes for Dr. Grant, who must battle his own gambling addiction in a place where betting is virtually everything (although “Dr. Vegas” is mostly being filmed on studio sets). “I don’t want to land too hard on ‘It’s a show that’s going to reveal Vegas’ dark side,’ ” Lowe says, “because ... this should be a place where you want to go and spend an hour on Friday nights. That’s the whole ballgame here, but we all like things that are a little more sophisticated and complicated than they appear to be. This is going to be a fun place to hang out.”

Jay Bobbin writes for Tribune Media Services.

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‘Dr. Vegas’

When: 10 to 11 p.m. Fridays

Where: CBS

Rating: TV-14-L (may be unsuitable for children under 14, with an advisory for coarse language)