• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, September 1, 2004

With a new TV show, Mark Cuban is looking to lift 'Brand Cuban' to the same height that Donald Trump lifted 'Brand Trump.'

Cuban already has somewhat of a head start -- out on display for the last several years as the energetic sideline owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. We all know what happened with Mr. Trump and last season's mega NBC TV hit, "The Apprentice."

The question is, does Mr. Cuban have enough game to move to the next round with an "Apprentice"-like show called "The Benefactor" set to debut next week on ABC?

One press report from Fortune this week suggests while successful, Cuban has had some big failures recently. Cuban is unapologetically optimistic - even when starting his own high-definition TV network, call HDNet, some years ago. Now that media giants with names like HBO and ESPN plan to start their own HD networks, his venture looks ill conceived.

You have to give Cuban credit. The NBA's ratings may have been slipping away the last several years, but an emotional, on-screen, over-the-top entrepreneur like Cuban added some spice -- some marketing punch -- to the rack of NBA on-court, or in court, personalities.

Current news stories don't say, but maybe that's the kind of show ABC is getting - a billionaire with an unedited emotional spin. Not one that says, "You're fired!" But maybe one that says, "Oh! I have this headache. I want to ride my skateboard again, and oh, you suck as a business executive."

The question is: Will we see the same unpredictable persona in his show when judging young executives efforts in their goal of getting $1 million from Cuban?

Recently Cuban was on "McEnroe" on CNBC and the subject got around to business -- when to make deals when not to - especially in regards to making his Yahoo! deal right before the dot-com collapse. Cuban said someone told him a simple way to do this: If you look around a room and can't find the sucker, you're it.

Cuban will be looking around the set of the show hoping he finds a sucker. If not, and if he can't understand why the show's ratings are low in the first couple of weeks, he might want to leave the room - screaming, of course.