As the nonprofit world gears up for the premiere of “The Philanthropist,” Steve Gunderson, chief executive of the Council on Foundations, finds the show and the lead character entertaining, but not very based in reality.

“It’s great entertainment. His life is exciting. His solutions arrive in 60 minutes. And he always succeeds,” he writes in a press statement about the show “I wish philanthropy was really that fun and that easy.”

Real charitable giving, he counters, requires rigorous “due diligence” for both the foundation and grant seeker and “long hours in meticulous preparation, months or years to implement solutions and thoughtful, ongoing metrics to track results.”

As one of the members of the council’s board of directors told Mr. Gunderson, The Philanthropist is to charitable giving as The Pink Panther is to police work.

“The show is a romanticized, action/adventure depiction of a powerful businessman’s efforts to find meaning in his life by applying his fortune and acumen to the problems of struggling communities in developing countries,” writes Mr. Gunderson. “Each weekly episode is expected to highlight the philanthropist’s giving in a different country. While some elements may ring true, very little of the first episode conveys the realities of philanthropy.”

Read other reviews of the show here.