Shahs of Sunset Premieres

Since "Shah's of Sunset" (the new Ryan Seacrest-produced reality TV show about Persians in L.A.) aired, friends keep pinging me to ask what I think of the first episode.

I'll say the same thing I said about it back when I first heard this show was happening: While the show features the worst of the worst, I still like that it depicts Persians in America. I think people in the U.S. generally have very little understanding that there are Persian-Americans right here, next door, and that we are not all fundamentalists. I hope the show sparks dialogue.

The first episode surprised me. I knew a little bit about what to expect because I know the Persian community, but I had no idea they would be featuring a group of mixed Muslim and Jewish Persians. It's super interesting because I know not a lot of people know that there are a great deal of Persian Jews (the mayor of Beverly Hills is a Persian Jew, as are some crazy percentage of Beverly Hills, CA and Great Neck, NY residents). I just think that if your common moron who watches Fox News knew even this much (that not all Persians are Muslim), it would add that extra layer of complexity to their understanding of what they see on the news. That being said, while I think it's engrossing to watch Persian Jews say "Shabbat Shalom" in Farsi accents, I have never in my life seen Persian Jews and Muslims hang out in a tight clique like that. Maybe this is something common to L.A. specifically, but I've not seen this anywhere else. There was one scene in this episode where they're all having dinner and talking about how a Persian Jew and a Persian Muslim would never get married, and that is very much the idea that I grew up with, but otherwise, the show is really trying hard (maybe too hard) to show how "modern Persians" are different: Already, we see the inkling of a budding romance between the most generically attractive guy (Jewish) and most generically attractive girl (Muslim).


My biggest complaint so far is how hard the producers push the story-line. One of the reasons Jersey Shore works so well is because none of it feels forced. It really truly feels like the characters are genuine buffoons and they just happen to be taped. In Shahs of Sunset, I feel like the subjects are acutely aware that they are being filmed. I guess that's a very Bravo TV touch though, a la the whole Housewives franchise, which has basically devolved into a show about being on a reality show.

The first episode of Shahs basically introduced the characters to us--a handful of spoiled girls with their own stylists in tow (judging by shots of them as children, all of them are ugly ducklings who underwent cosmetic surgeries), one chick who is an earthy hippie singer/songwriter who hates Persians and gets made fun of because she doesn't wear name brand clothes (p.s. she thinks she's the next M.I.A.), some guys who are all involved in real estate and drive BMWs and worship their mothers, and one gay guy that the narrative sort of revolves around. The gay guy wants to be a standup comedian but is really not that funny at all. We see them go shopping. We see them at a pool party which features a caged tiger. We see the girls get in a fight at a restaurant because one of them accuses the other of wearing H&M clothing. We see the guys wheeling and dealing at work. We see them getting dressed. In one scene, one of the elder Persian moms visits and makes her daughter and her guy friend some Persian food. They did a close-up of the food: a rice with stew we call "koresht," and I have to say that it looked awful. Either that woman didn't know how to cook or they made some poor intern whip up that food so it looked like the mom was serving Persian food. She was the funniest and most "real" thing about the whole episode, telling her daughter that her outfit made her look like a peasant "not even from a town, but from a village." I could watch Persian parents forever. They should have made a show about that.

Anyway, I'm super excited to keep watching this show. It doesn't wow me like Jersey Shore did. It just doesn't feel natural enough. But I think it's a worthy effort in a pretty crazy spotlight. I look forward to hating "GG" and being annoyed by Asa (the M.I.A.-wannabe who hangs out with Persians but says she hates them). As for the guys? I dated their prototypes for a year, and I find them the most hilarious of all. Ryan Seacrest has made it official: Persians are in the rotation.