Kinnear stars in Fox's 'Rake'

* RAKE. 9 tonight, Fox 29.

ONE OF the less-used definitions of "rake" in Merriam-Webster is "a dissolute person: libertine."

But it's "also the garden implement that is cleaning up the gutters of our world," says Peter Duncan, who created the Australian original of "Rake," whose U.S. version - also, at his insistence, called "Rake" - premieres tonight, on Fox, with Greg Kinnear in the title role.

Not that his character, a dissolute, libertine lawyer with a serious gambling problem, is actually named Rake. That would be too easy, and way too on the nose for a show that's already bound to be compared to "House," simply because its good-looking protagonist is brilliant but flawed.

Dr. House, though, had a limp. And saved a lot of people's lives, even if he never seemed very happy about it.

Kinnear plays a lawyer named Keegan Deane (which makes him sound like a law firm), and he seems surprisingly happy for a man who can barely save himself. When we meet him, he's about to be beaten over a bad debt. He'll be in even worse trouble if he doesn't find a way to pay, but, hey, he's a lawyer and he seems confident that it'll all work out.

Like House, Deane shares a unique bond with at least one prostitute (Bojana Novakovic)and is surrounded by other women - Miranda Otto, as his ex-wife; Tara Summers, as his assistant; Necar Zadegan, as an old friend who frequently opposes him in court - who aren't paid, or at least not enough, to be this exasperated.

Unlike House, he's charming in that way that Kinnear does so well.

The ever-outrageous Peter Tolan, who co-created "Rescue Me" with Denis Leary, is one of the show's executive producers, and if the Sam Raimi-directed premiere were as funny as the fake diary entries with which Tolan regaled critics recently, I'd probably be totally on board.

(Sample: "Sept. 16, first day of shooting for 'Rake.' Kinnear showed up drunk with a hooker named Tammy on his arm claiming it was part of his process.

"After the first shot, he demanded we give Tammy a producer credit. Rather than upset him, we agreed, but her pimp pushed for co-[executive producer], so now she's a [expletive] co-EP.")

If "Rake" were on, say, Showtime, it would probably be a half-hour show and would ditch most of the lawyer stuff, since the case in the premiere, involving a confessed serial killer, played by Peter Stormare, is more far-fetched than fascinating.

Worse, time in court is time not spent screwing up.

I'm not entirely sure where Tolan, Kinnear and company are going with this, but I'm only interested if they're willing to go all in.

Because a toothless rake is of no use at all.

Twitter: @elgray