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Mark Cuban's reality show The Benefactor, shown Monday nights on ABC, debuted today. The show gives 16 people a chance to a prize of one million dollars. The contest is, "who can succeed?" Succeed at what, though? Competitions, interviews and tasks.

The episode kicks off with 16 people, all in their 20's or 30's, walking into a large mansion and sitting down on chairs or sofas, with no one there to greet them aside from each other. Meanwhile, behind closed doors, Mark Cuban is watching, listening to contestants introduce themselves to each other and wonder aloud at what's going to happen, from a control room with tons of monitors.

As each contestant enters the house, brief clips show us, the television viewer, completely random stuff about them.

After we learn some stupid crap about each person, Cuban comes out, greets everyone and reminds them that the game started the moment everyone walked in the door, and no one gets a second chance to make a first impression.

"Based on that first impression, I have to make my first cut," said Cuban. This just 15 minutes into the hour-long show.

"Mario. You went and got water and got snacks for everybody. Did anybody give you permission to do that?"

Mario, a balding (as Mario himself repeatedly pointed out - I'm not being mean) roundish guy, answered that he wanted to loosen the group up. Cuban agreed, and said he goes along with that. Mario, who looked like he was going to pass out, sighed with relief. It was sort of awkward.

Then, a model-guy who talked about hair products and politics was let off the hook for being a model-guy who talks about hair products and politics.

Finally, Cuban singles out Rich, one of the older contestants, who, as he first came in the house and chatted about what the game might be like, half-jokingly said "I think it's going to be stupid, not stupid in a stupid-stupid way, but stupid." InsideHoops.com is paraphrasing that quote, but you get the idea.

Cuban wasn't having "stupid" applied to his show. And with that, Rich, who has a wife and kids, was the first to get kicked out. He deserved to go.

"The message I wanted to send is that the game is on, 24/7," Cuban said.

"Say one thing wrong, and bam, you're gone," says Mario in a "speak to the tv viewers only" setting.

Then, the players, one by one, sat with Cuban for private interviews.

The first player, a blond guy, was asked by Cuban who the hottest chicks on the show were. The guy was reluctant to name names, but when pressed, revealed his top choices. I feel compelled to mention that I personally agreed with his responses.

The second, the model-dude who spends far too much money on hair products, compared himself to a rock star. He was friendly and cool enough, and liked by Cuban.

Next, a female teacher of young kids said that if she won she'd buy things for the students in her inner-city school. She then brought up the fact that she's already been accused of being an "arrogant bitch."

The fourth, an all-American blond girl in appearance and demeanor, revealed that she is in fact America's "Watermelon Queen" (apparently that's an actual official title of some sort).

Next up was a computer programmer who talked about the biggest risk that he never actuall took back a few years ago; he had a chance to go into a dot-com venture, and didn't do it, and lost out making what probably would have been a few million dollars.

A female marketing director - an Asian woman who apparently got naked in her audition tape to get on the show - followed. She didn't look or seem "hardcore" as implied, but certainly acted it in her tape.

Then a female pro football player (yes, a player in a women's football league), muscular and athletic, tells of how her mother was horribly injured in a car accident.

Next, a histologist, who doesn't look like he plays sports, tells Cuban that he doesn't actually need a million dollars, that he can make it on his own. It didn't seem too smart to reveal this.

Then a female MBA student with long red hair reveals that she makes a nice side-income playing poker.

Not every private interview was shown on the television show. So, if you were counting names and looking for 15, I didn't miss anyone, the show just didn't show us some of the conversations. Which is fine, because the conversations weren't too special.

Next, everyone is back in the living room, and Cuban joins them and says that, in regard to interviews, "Some people weren't who they said they were, and not how they said they were." He singles out that the Asian woman (the one who got naked in the audition tape) acted like she had tons of energy to get on the show, but then failed to display energy or life once actually arriving - in other words, she wasn't being genuine.

"This girl won't play air guitar for a million dollars?"

And, she's gone.

"Any mistake means you're kicked off," the blond guy in a private moment to tv viewers.

With one more elimination coming, Cuban pulled two people from the group: the roundish guy who earlier said he doesn't need the money, and the red-headed girl who has been very quiet.

One has to go. Who will it be? Cuban decides that a game of Jenga will determine who gets sent home.

(In Jenga, little puzzle pieces form a standing tower that sits on a table. A player pulls a piece out from within the tower and puts it on top. Then the other player does the same. They go back and forth. First person to cause the tower to fall down loses.)

The roundish guy who doesn't need the money repeatedly taunts the girl, dances around, and tries to psyche her out. He's goofy.

Goofball guy wins. Red-head girl is off the show. The Jenga game was the most interesting part of the episode.

"He may be one of the most annoying people I've ever met in my life," Cuban says of "I don't need the money" guy.

For the final few minutes of the show, players spoke in "confessionals" (a staple in reality shows, where contestants privately reveal their thoughts to viewers at home), about their impressions of Cuban, other players and the game itself.

The bad news is that The Benefactor's first episode wasn't too interesting. Had I not been a basketball fan and already very familiar with Mark Cuban (who in real life is outgoing, friendly and a great guy), I'd have stopped watching about a third of the way through the show. But the good news is that scenes of future episodes reveal plenty of stuff that could be fun to watch, like playing basketball (Horse, to be exact) on the Dallas Mavericks home floor, car racing, and other cool competitions.

Hopefully the scenes from upcoming episodes were accurate in their portrayal. If so, there's as much potential here as with any other reality show.