Why Rob Lowe Turned Down An Iconic Grey's Anatomy Character

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Patrick Dempsey's Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd was an important and prominent character on "Grey's Anatomy" throughout his tenure on the show. However, back when ABC and the makers of the medical drama were still figuring out the cast, the network pushed for a very different actor to take on the McDreamy role: none other than Brat Pack member Rob Lowe.

This, however, wasn't meant to be. Two medical dramas happened to be vying for Lowe's attention at the time, and he ended up turning down "Grey's Anatomy" in favor of taking the lead in the casino-themed CBS show "Dr. Vegas." In an exclusive excerpt of Lynette Rice's book, "How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey's Anatomy," published in Entertainment Weekly, Lowe himself revealed that the reason behind the decision came down to a single good meeting and a simple gut feeling.

"The real, honest reason was [former CBS corporation chairman] Les Moonves' pitch to me," the actor said. "His personal pitch was amazing, and there was no pitch from ABC. ABC just never said anything. I just had a better meeting with CBS. The scripts were incomparable. The vibe around 'Dr. Vegas' was great. The script for 'Grey's Anatomy' was great. I went with the vibe over the script."

There are many TV roles that were almost played by a different actor, and Rob Lowe as McDreamy is certainly one of the more eye-popping entries on that list. Interestingly, even after Lowe had turned down the role, Dempsey wasn't an immediate lock due to ABC's own reservations. "At that point, Patrick kind of already had his career and no one was really paying attention to him," the show's executive producer, Peter Horton, told Entertainment Weekly. "The network initially was resistant to it, but we really felt right about it."

Dempsey was eventually cast, and he went on to create TV magic with the rest of the "Grey's Anatomy" team, but Lowe's medical drama venture wasn't as lucky. "Dr. Vegas" premiered on September 24, 2004, as part of the fall schedule of what turned out to be a pretty decent candidate for TV's greatest season ever. But despite a great cast that featured stars like Amy Adams, Joe Pantoliano, and Sarah Lancaster alongside Lowe, the show's reviews were disappointing, and it only ran for 10 episodes.

Of course, Lowe ended up landing on his feet, too. Though "Dr. Vegas" was his second consecutive television disappointment after "The Lyon's Den" was canceled mid-season in 2003, he has managed to stay very, very busy ever since with projects like the ABC family drama "Brothers & Sisters," NBC's sitcom gem "Parks and Recreation," and more recently Fox's firefighter drama "9-1-1: Lone Star."