Last night “Secret Millionaire” premiered on ABC, kicking off the second season of the U.S. version of the philanthropic reality series (season 1 ran on Fox). The show puts undercover super-rich individuals in needy communities where they scout out individuals and charitable groups to work with, ultimately rewarding them with gifts of tens of thousands of dollars (or pounds, in the original UK version).

Last night’s episode put Dani Johnson, an Evangelical entrepreneur who reportedly went from being on welfare to making her first million at 22, in the impoverished Western Heights neighborhood of Knoxville, Tennessee, where she volunteers at three good causes: a soup kitchen run by a pair of elderly black twin sisters, a charity called Special Spaces that remakes bedrooms for children facing life-threatening illnesses, and an inner-city music school bringing musical education to impoverished children with donated instruments and volunteers. Since the TV show can’t hide the cameras from the people Dani meets and works with, the cover story is that Dani is part of a documentary; only in the end does the checkbook come out.

In the barren wasteland of reality television, the appealing thing about “Secret Millionaire” is that it focuses on ordinary people who are already making a difference, and gives them the wherewithal to do more. This isn’t an intervention-style reality show like “Clean House” where dysfunctional candidates are rescued by the show’s resident experts. Helen Ashe and Ellen Turner of the Love Kitchen weren’t just sitting around helplessly waiting for Dani Johnson to show up and help them with her millions—although her gift certainly inspires them to do even more to help their needy neighbors.

Who could object to a TV show that pairs up people with more money than they can use with worthy causes that can put to good use all the money they can get? Each episode of “Secret Millionaire” makes the world a better place, and that’s obviously a good thing. I also appreciated the Christian vibe of the episode; Dani reads the Bible in her room, and Helen and Ellen’s life lessons begin with the observation, “There’s only one father, the Heavenly Father.”

And yet I’m somewhat ambivalent about how the millionaires figure into the premise. I appreciate Dani’s observations that our culture “idolizes all the wrong people”: celebrities, athletes, millionaires. But while the show admirably gives real credit to anonymous heroes who deserve celebration, the premise and marketing hook is “Secret Millionaire,” not “Anonymous Heroes.” To some extent, the show itself plays to and perpetuates the cult of wealth, and ultimately Dani is the heroine.

Part of the show’s gimmick is that Dani leaves her wealth behind and spends a week or so living in a rather squalid rented room on the equivalent of food stamps. The point of this “The Simple Life” twist isn’t spelled out, and it feels vaguely condescending, like the hero’s misguided adventure in Preston Sturges’ classic Sullivan’s Travels.

Is it meant to make her more “authentic,” to give her an appreciation for what the little people go through? Or is it only a voyeuristic appeal to the audience to watch a millionaire do without? Dani may have been poor once, but she’s super-rich now, and she doesn’t really leave that behind. The true hardship of poverty lies in insecurity, hopelessness and powerlessness; if you know you’ll be comfortable and at ease this time next week, you aren’t poor.

In spite of these reservations, I appreciate the show’s good intentions, and I’m glad I had the chance to catch the Season 2 pilot. Have you seen any of “Secret Millionaire”? What do you think?