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Taking its cue from reality programming but adding a socio-cultural, issue-oriented aspect, The Experiment: Gay and Straight takes a look at what happened when five heterosexual and five homosexual Chicagoans agreed to be sequestered in a house for one week and have their conversations videotaped. The frank discussions bring up varying stereotypes and attitudes among the groups; the overall project strived to create a commonality between the two sides by the end of the week. Originally aired in eight-minute segments on nightly news broadcasts in Chicago, The Experiment was re-edited into a 45-minute short documentary for theatrical release.