Ah, out with the old, in with the new. The television season is dead, long live the next television season. And to prepare for it, I’m going to review new shows as the pilots become available.

Dr. Vegas; CBS, Friday Nights 10:00 pm

Ok, I’ll admit it. I don’t see the fascination television has demonstrated over the last couple of years for Las Vegas. I mean, it was interesting when CSI chose it as its setting, but when NBC last season premiered Las Vegas, I thought it was a bit much (even though I admit to liking the show). And now, this…I guess CBS was feeling a little left out. All we need now is for UPN to premiere Star Trek: Las Vegas.

Anyway, to the merits of this show. Rob Lowe, who left The West Wing (and not a minute too soon, after the pitiful scripts foisted on us last year) and failed last season in The Lyon’s Den (a show that couldn’t decide what it wanted to be when it grew up, and so like everything else was strangled by the network even before puberty) is back, this time as Dr. Billy Grant, a wisecracking casino doctor with a heart of gold - yeah, the same character as Sam Seborn and Jack Turner. Thing in, I kinda like this character…it may be one-note, but it’s a pleasant tone. Billy is keeping a few secrets, like the reason he’s bound to the casino’s General Manager, Tommy Danko (Joe Pantoliano, last season’s failed The Handler), and exactly what the status is of his medical license. His Nurse Practitioner Alice Doherty (Amy Adams, and things don’t bode well for this character since she isn’t listed on CBS’ official webpage) worries about him, but knows she can’t afford to get too close to the Boss. Danko’s Floor Supervisor Vic Moore (Tom Sizemore, last season’s failed Robbery Homicide Division - beginning to see a pattern here?) likes Billy, and tries to keep him out of trouble…but whether its a singer who can’t complete her set or a construction worker who nails himself, trouble finds Billy Grant.

Sarah Lancaster (Everwood) rounds out the cast as…ah, let’s just be honest here, she’s the eye candy - and there’s not a thing wrong with that from this perspective. At least she’s working with grown-ups now, instead of that implausible storyline last season on Everwood. I’m certain we’ll soon learn how tough her life is outside the casino, and how heroically she’s coping with it, but in the pilot we’re just watching her deal the cards in an outfit two sizes too small and dealing with a father (a cameo by Alex Rocco, an actor we don’t see often enough) who forgets what year it is.

This really isn’t an episode so much as a series of vignettes. Where most pilots set up the characters with whatever events are required to put them together, this one meanders around showing us what kind of stories might be done without actually having any story that engages us. We see a gymnast who injures herself, a singer working too hard and using too much, an attempted suicide, and other stories. Everyone is in-place prior to the start of the episode and hasn’t moved an inch by the end of the episode. I don’t mean to imply the episode is boring, even though it can be. It’s just clear the writers were demonstrating where the show can go, not trying to give a complete example. I expect (and sincerely hope) this will be re-written from the ground up; if it isn’t, they are likely to lose anyone who casually drops in on the first episode.

The truth is, there’s nothing spectacular here. The traveling camera shots are more detailed (and less fx-filled) than NBC’s Las Vegas, but the general look-and-feel isn’t all that much different. The stories will clearly gear more toward the medical (go ahead, list the likely early episode plots - patron has heart attack, another patron gets bunion on their slot-machine-pulling hand), but will always hinge on the aw-shucks likability of the character of Billy. I just wonder if it’s going to be enough…it sure wasn’t last season.