Cowboys, mafia meet in ‘Vegas’

Bring on the hybrids. Last Monday, Fox debuted “The Mob Doctor,” an odd blend of “The Sopranos” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” Tonight, it’s cowboys vs. the Mafia on “Vegas” (9 p.m., CBS), set in Nevada in 1960.

Dennis Quaid plays Ralph Lamb, a fourth-generation rancher upset by the hustle and bustle of the gambling mecca rising in the nearby desert. He’s deputized when the acting sheriff goes missing. That puts him up against the new crime boss in town, Vincent Savino (Michael Chiklis).

Don’t go looking for deep character development. Savino is appalled by the violence and inefficiency of operating a casino. The real Ralph Lamb is the former sheriff of Clark County, Nev., and the role offers Quaid a great character, a no-nonsense lawman of the Gary Cooper-type.

• In a season filled with mediocre new sitcoms, “The Mindy Project” (8:30 p.m., Fox) has potential. Mindy Kaling (“The Office”) stars in the title role as a gynecologist in her 30s who obsesses about the mess she’s made of her life when not helping bring new life into the world.

While it’s difficult to imagine how so scattered a character got through medical school, Mindy is charming in her single-minded efforts to stop sleeping with the wrong men, lose 15 pounds, become a wife and mother, and above all, stop vegging out to romantic comedies like “When Harry Met Sally” and “Notting Hill.” It’s a South Asian-American variation on “Bridget Jones’s Diary.”

• The people you hang around with while you wait to get married might be the people who keep you from getting married. That’s a subtheme of CBS’ “Partners,” and at times it seems like the whole point of “Ben and Kate” (7:30 p.m., Fox).

Nat Faxon and Dakota Johnson star in the title roles as a brother and sister from a vaguely dysfunctional background. Kate’s life took a detour when she became pregnant, and Ben has spent his adulthood as an impetuous and immature prankster who’s supposed to be charming but, like this show, too often fails to amuse.

Tonight’s network premieres

• A bombing’s aftermath on “NCIS” (7 p.m., CBS).

• On two episodes of “New Girl” (Fox): a brand-new brand (7 p.m.), a blind date (8 p.m.).

• Consequences for Callen on “NCIS: Los Angeles” (8 p.m., CBS).

• Love blossoms for Addison on “Private Practice” (9 p.m., ABC).