Television is often blamed for conditioning its audience in undesirable ways: We want things faster, easier, in bite-size pieces that don't require a lot of chewing. And everything must have a kicker, a dramatic endpoint that will justify our time in front of the box.
This kicker requirement is the reason so-called reality TV is anything but real. The people you see on shows like "Survivor" and "Big Brother" are often referred to as "contestants." Being able to spy on people on this desert island or in that urban apartment is apparently not enough of an incentive to actually watch. Somebody has to win something in the end, because winning provides closure. Lives go on, but programs have to end at some point.
Fuji TV's half-hour reality-TV program "Hyakuman Otoko" ("One Million Man"; Thursday, 1:55 a.m.) takes this concept as its premise but turns it inside-out. Rather than offer a prize as a reward for accomplishing something after it's accomplished, the producers of "Hyakuman" give the prize right upfront. The conditions for receiving the prize are so simple as to make them practically nonconditions: The man must spend 1 million yen within five hours, and he must spend it all on himself.