Brainwashed or Just Entertaining?

Last night I watched the "Brainwashed" episode of the show Curiosity on the Discovery Channel. I think this episode first aired in October 2012. My reaction to this show was: ?!

 I have to admit being a bit disenchanted by  the new wave of "educational" television.  (PBS, with its innovative and well-researched programming is an exception).  The new mood of commercial learning programming is sensational and has turned from somewhat well-researched documentaries into exploitative programming that goes for shock value more than facts.  There are some good nature and astronomical programs on these days but I think the general quality of programming on most of the commercial education channels is quickly going to you know where in a reality TV hand basket.

In this program, researchers apparently carried out an experiment in which they tested the possibly of creating a Manchurian Candidate, a hypnotized person who could be programmed to kill on cue and then forget the experience. I didn't catch the very first part of the episode so do not know if they used the term "Manchurian Candidate" but that seemed to be the idea. The experiment used the control of relaxing in an icy bathtub upon command to see if select hypnotized subjects were truly responding to hypnotic command or just "playing along" with the commands.

One subject was shown to relax both physiologically and mentally in the icy bath. Having passed the control test apparently showed that he was truly responding to hypnotic command and was ready for the next scenario. He was told that the experiment was over but instead a Manchurian Candidate situation was set up for him. He was placed under hypnosis without his knowledge and instructed upon cues to retrieve a (harmless) firearm from a backpack and go for a visiting "bad guy" (really an actor, of course) who would be entering the building while he left. Near the end of the show, the subject was indeed shown carrying out the instruction of retrieving the gun on cue and seemingly using it on the stranger. The show ended with him being debriefed on his actions and meeting the actor he had "shot" while under hypnosis.

 My biggest questions were as follows:
What review board would approve such an experiment?
 Is this ethical?
 Is this for real?

I have volunteered for scientific research in the past, most recently microbial analysis of my house, and have completed somewhat extensive human subject explanation and release forms for each experiment. Most of the experiments involved such benign procedures as answering questions online and filling out paper test forms.  Comprehensive ethical human subject guidelines were still followed. It seems hard to believe that an experiment with potential psychological fallout would even be allowed.

A quick Internet search of the show's commentary revealed that I wasn't the only one with questions. The test subject has a budding acting career, which was not revealed in the program and apparently concerned the viewers who discovered it. There were also some accusations that the entire thing was staged and a few people upset by what they viewed as pseudo-science passed off on viewers as a valid experiment.

I do not have enough facts to make an opinion on the show or its scientific versus entertainment value. I take most TV programming with a grain of salt these days but this one raised some interesting questions for me about the line between scientific reality and entertainment.

It was not as upsetting though as when I found out that MTV's Bully Beatdown was said to be staged. Now that's a good show.

Edit- December 7, 2012
But wait!  I have just purchased a book from a used book sale that deals with with this topic!  It is:  Jane Gregory and Steve Miller's Science in Public:  Communication, Culture, and Credibility.  Chapters include:  The Coming Age of Popular Science, Populatrization:  Why and from Whom?, Science on Television, The Fasination of Unorthodox Science, etc.

Learned about Today:
Light at Night!  http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/NPP/news/earth-at-night.html
Save the Frogs! http://www.savethefrogs.com