Primetime. Basic instincts
(DVD or VCD)

Series and episode titles from disc label.

Human chain is also known as Six degrees of separation; the Milgram experiment re-visited is also known as Science of evil.

Five-part series originally aired on Primetime Live on Dec. 6, 13, 20, 27, 2006 and Jan. 3, 2007.

Producers, Chris Whipple, Thomas Berman, Ann Sorkowitz, Clem Taylor, Geoff Martz ; editors, Ed Delgado, Jack Pyle, Francois Bernadi, Jim Ettorre, Joe Schanzer.

Reporters, John Quiñones (parts 1 and 4), Jay Schadler (parts 2 and 3), Chris Cuomo (part 5).

Part 1 explores how people react - or choose not to act or react - to situations that drive us all crazy ; like people talking on their cell phones too long, out of control kids, out of control grown-ups, situations that cry out for action, and the question becomes : "What would you do?" In Part 2, a socialite, a businessman, a boxer from the inner city and a Broadway dancer - four people with completely different lives connected by nothing - accept Primetime's six degrees of separation challenge. The program explores whether these total strangers can be linked to one another through a human chain of friends and acquaintances across social, racial and geographic barriers. In Part 3, game theory was tested in two experiments. In one experiment six teams are challenged to find each other in Washington, D.C. In the other experiment, people had to lose 15 pounds in two months or risk public humiliation. In Part 4, again the question is asked, What would you do? How will people react to bullies ganging up on an innocent kid or a couple fighting in the park? Will dressing the bullies tougher or changing the race of the fighting couple affect how people respond? What will people do when they see a stranger who has had too much to drink attempt to get in a car? Will it make a difference when it's a mom with her children? When customers at a deli get back too much money from a cashier, will they say anything? Then, how will passengers handle a taxi driver who goes on an extensive racist rant filled with hateful ethnic slurs? Finally, in Part 5 Primetime re-created a famous experiment, The Milgram Experiment, to understand how ordinary people can perform unthinkable acts. Would ordinary people today still follow orders even if they believed their actions were causing someone else pain?

DVD-R, NTSC.