Showtime’s Vegas-based comedy ‘Dice’ starts production

With "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" having ended its 15-year run in September and NBC's new billionaires-gambling-on-crime action series "The Player" not exactly setting the ratings on fire, we're in danger of not having a scripted TV series set in Las Vegas for the first time in a generation.

Andrew Dice Clay is here to remedy that situation.

Production has begun on the Showtime comedy "Dice," in which Clay stars as a thinly veiled version of himself, who's forced by a Vegas overlord (Lorraine Bracco, "The Sopranos") to perform to pay off his gambling debts. When he isn't hustling onstage, Dice will manage his sons' rock band while trying to keep his family afloat.

"Dice" is created by Scot Armstrong, the co-writer of "Road Trip," "Old School" and "The Hangover Part II."

The comedy is scheduled to premiere sometime in 2016.

Hopefully "The Player" can hang on until then.

Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com. On Twitter: @life_onthecouch.