The new series “Luck” (8 p.m., HBO) is the New York Yankees of television dramas, an enterprise so laden with talent, it inspires both awe and resentment.

Racetracks are natural settings for tragedy and comedy. Is there anything more exalted than a thoroughbred horse in action? Or more squalid than a hungover gambler desperate for one more score?

Dustin Hoffman stars as a Chester “Ace” Bernstein. We meet him in the opening moments as he’s being released from prison after three years and meeting his driver and bodyguard, Gus (Dennis Farina), a man Ace has contrived to win a casino jackpot in order to act as the “owner” of Ace’s $2 million Irish thoroughbred.

A former professor, “Luck” creator David Milch (“NYPD Blue,” ”Deadwood”) knows his Shakespeare. And like the Bard, Milch modulates focus here, concentrating on the high and the low, the king and the fool. The best parts (and the moments closest to levity) involve four degenerate gamblers: Marcus (Kevin Dunn), Renzo (Ritchie Coster), Jerry (Jason Gedrick), and Lonnie (Ian Hart). They’re eager for a big payday and clueless how to handle good fortune. There are also subplots involving a cryptic horse trainer (John Ortiz) and his veterinarian lover (Jill Hennessy), and any number of riders who are literally jockeying for our attention.

Directed by Michael Mann (“Miami Vice,” ”Manhunter”), “Luck” looks like nothing else on television. It’s hard to take your eyes off it. At the same time, the relentless emphasis on neon visuals can be off-putting, particularly when a story unfolds in fits and starts.

I’ll admit, I found “Luck” a bit annoying for the first 20 minutes or so. It seemed like a music video occasionally interrupted by cryptic dialogue or, in the case of Nick Nolte’s character, an oddball horse owner, monologue. But halfway through the pilot, I found myself hooked.

I promised myself I would try to avoid the gambling puns and racetrack cliches, but I can’t conclude without at least one: Hold on, “Luck” is one heck of a ride.

Tonight’s other highlights

• Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (6 p.m., CBS): Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, exotic hunting ranches.

• The best from both conferences (except members of the Super Bowl teams) meet in the 2012 NFL Pro Bowl (7 p.m., NBC).

• Jeremy Irons gives voice to Moe’s special friend on “The Simpsons” (7 p.m., Fox).

• Richard Schiff (“West Wing”) guest-stars on “Once Upon a Time” (7 p.m., ABC).

• The case against Will is strong on “The Good Wife” (8 p.m., CBS).

• A special education teacher (John Corbett) takes his class to NASA’s exclusive space camp in the 2012 drama “A Smile as Big as the Moon” (8 p.m., ABC).

• War wounds, seen and unseen, loom large on “Downton Abbey” (8 p.m., PBS, check local listings).

• “Missions That Changed the War: Enola Gay” (8 p.m., Military) recalls the B-29 that delivered the first atomic bomb.