Rob Lowe is one of those actors who just keeps reinventing himself. In the past few years, he’s been a presidential aide, a lawyer and now a casino doctor on the CBS drama “Dr. Vegas.”
The new show, which premieres at 9 p.m. Sept. 24, marks the sixth-straight season he’s appeared on prime-time TV.
Lowe, a still-sexy 40-year-old father of two, chatted about his new role and a TV doctor he adores.
Your new character, Dr. Grant, appears to be a little less heady than the character you played on last fall’s NBC drama “Lyon’s Den.” Were you looking for lighter fare?
I was kind of looking to play a character who was a bit more fun, had more of a bad-boy quality. I played some roles like that early in my career and had a really good time with them on “About Last Night” or “St. Elmo’s Fire.” The characters I played on “West Wing” and “Lyon’s Den” were unbelievably earnest. And I was thinking it might be fun to play a little bit of a wise-ass.
Is there any TV doctor you identify with?
One of my favorite doctors in television history–we should all be so lucky to be mentioned in the same breath–was Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda’s character on “M*A*S*H”). I think that’s sort of the road we aspire to walk on. He’s great at what he does, but in his personal life and behind closed doors, he’s an iconoclast and doesn’t take crap from anybody. He’s fun and knows how to stir it up.
There will be the inevitable comparisons to NBC’s “Las Vegas.” How is your show different?
Well, I think any time you show more than one side of a city, a character or whatever, it’s just more interesting. It’s certainly more interesting for me as an actor to play a doctor who’s a great doctor, but he struggles with what may or may not be a very heavy gambling addiction. That duality, that sort of contrast, makes it interesting for me.
Does the sight of blood make you squeamish?
I’m lucky I don’t get squeamish. I think I could probably do the Celebrity “Fear Factor” thing and be OK.
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