Shahs of Sunset
| Shahs of Sunset | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Reality |
| Starring |
|
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 22 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Camera setup | Multiple |
| Running time | 40 to 43 minutes |
| Production company | Ryan Seacrest Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | Bravo |
| Release | March 11, 2012 – present |
Shahs of Sunset is an American reality television series on Bravo in the United States and on OMNI in Canada.[1] The series debuted on March 11, 2012, and the first season finale was the highest rated episode of the series, at the time, with 1.8 million total viewers.[2] The series follows a group of Iranian American friends living in Beverly Hills (and the greater area known as "Tehrangeles"), who are trying to juggle their active social lives and up-and-coming careers while balancing the demands of their families and traditions.[3] It is the second American reality television show about Iranians after E!'s Love Is in the Heir in 2004.[4] Shahs of Sunset has been renewed for a third season,[5] which premiered on November 5, 2013.[6]
Current Shahs
Reza Farahan
(Season 1 — present)
Born in Tehran, Iran in 1973 and raised in Beverly Hills, Farahan is a 39-year-old real estate agent in Los Angeles. He is openly gay and often struggles with gossip and prejudice regarding his sexuality.[7] He wanted to participate in the show after seeing news reports of the suicides of teenagers who were bullied because they were gay, and he wanted to help by portraying a positive image of both gay people and Middle Easterners.[8]
Reza has been in a relationship with Adam Neely, a former fashion model, who works for Ryan Murphy, in post production, on his various shows. They have been involved since 2010, the two have appeared together in several episodes. Reza told Adam he loved him in the Shahs of Sunset season 2 finale. In Season 3 Adam and Reza move in together. Reza tells viewers that Adam is the one for him.
His father is Jewish, and his mother is Muslim. In an episode he reveals his father converted to Islam to marry his mother. When his parents' marriage ended in divorce, his father moved back to New York to be with his Jewish family; in an episode it's revealed that Farahan's paternal grandmother pressured his father and rejected Reza because he was not Jewish.[9] His family supports him in spite of the pressure they feel to ostracize him.
He works with MJ at Keller Williams Realty.[10]
Golnesa "GG" Gharachedaghi
(Season 1 — present)
Gharachedaghi is an entrepreneur who begins the show unemployed and financially dependent on her father. She comes from a wealthy, nominally Muslim family.[11] She lunches with her friends during the day and socializes at night. She has eight tattoos, including one on the inside of her lip. With a fiery, combative personality, she claims to have been kicked out of a number of schools while growing up due to fighting.[12] Growing up she attended Jewish day care, Catholic preschool and Loyola Marymount University.[13] Her father is Mahmoud Gharachedaghi, architect and principal at GA Architecture and Planning, who appears on the show starting in season one.[14] Over the second season, she launches "GG's Extensions", a brand of hair extensions, with her sister Leila.[15][16] In December 2012 she told Andy Cohen that she was engaged to Omid Kalantari, who has a recurring role in season 2.[17] The two broke off their engagement the following month.[18] She has compared the show's cast's effect on the entertainment industry to the struggles of civil rights icon Rosa Parks.[19]
Asa Soltan Rahmati
(Season 1 — present)
Rahmati is the self-proclaimed "Persian Pop Priestess" and entrepreneur who is in the Venice artist scene. Her paintings have been published in Imagining Ourselves, an Art book published by IMOW, International Women's Museum in San Francisco. Over the second season she develops and launches "Diamond Water", a bottled water which is alkaline water put in contact with diamonds before being bottled.[20] She is from a Persian Muslim family; her parents and her brother, Arta, all appear on the show.[11] Soltan Rahmati has been together with Jermaine Jackson Jr, the eldest child of Jermaine Jackson, since 2010 and he has appeared in the second season.[21] She graduated from UCLA with a double major in Psychology and Philosophy. She claims her family left Iran as political refugees when she was as a young girl; she grew up in Europe before moving to Los Angeles as a teenager.[11][22][22] She lives in Venice; previously with wealthy entrepreneur Shaahin Cheyene.[23]
Mike Shouhed
(Season 1 — present)
Shouhed is a commercial real estate agent in Los Angeles. He is a graduate of UCLA.[24] After losing some money in the Las Vegas commercial real estate market, he has moved back home to rebuild. He and his family are Persian Jews.[11] One of his brothers is a dentist.[25] In January 2013, Shouhed announced he was going to be featured in a photo shoot for Playgirl.[26]
Mercedes "MJ" Javid
(Season 1 — present)
Javid is a real estate agent living in the Hollywood Hills. She was born in 1972. With a voluptuous figure, MJ grew up conscious of her weight and was put on diet pills by a physician at age 14 in order to try to lose extra pounds, though she later quit them.[27] MJ and her mother have a very difficult relationship and argue frequently on the show. MJ and her father however, are very close. She works with Reza at Keller Williams Realty.[10] She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from California State University, Northridge in 2002. During the Season 2 reunion, Javid admitted she is a felon, having been convicted of bank fraud in 1994.[28][29][30]
Neelufar Seyed "Lilly" Ghalichi
(Season 2 — present)
Ghalichi is an entrepreneur, lawyer and blogger that other characters describe as a "Persian Barbie".[31] She founded a lingerie-inspired line of swimwear known as "Swimgerie" that later merged with another swim line to become Have Faith Swimgerie.[32] She also founded her own line of eyelashes known as Lilly Lashes. Raised in Houston, Texas, she comes from a Persian Muslim family. Her sister, Yassamin, has appeared on the show and her brother, Mohammed, is a cardiologist.[33][34] She attended the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin and Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, graduating in 2008.[35][36][37][38] Ghalichi has had a decade long on-again, off-again relationship with a Houston-based lawyer named Ali; after she graduated from law school in Los Angeles they became engaged and she moved back to Texas to live with him. They later broke up due what she described as bad habits, notably cheating on her.[39][40] She also struggles with her conservative family due to her decision to leave law and pursue a career in fashion and beauty. She was the subject of controversy after joking during episode that HIV/AIDS can be spread from a used pair of bikini bottoms and issued an apology.[37][41]
Former Shahs
Sammy Younai
(Season 1)
Younai is a residential developer in Beverly Hills specializing in building multi-million dollar homes. Sammy comes from a Persian Jewish family.[11] His family left Iran and moved to Florida when he was a young child, later moving to Beverly Hills when Sammy was a teenager.[42] During Season 1 he works with celebrity developer Mohamed Hadid on his latest mansion: a 48,000-square foot, $58 million house in Bel Air called "the Crescent Palace".[43][44] He has appears as a guest in Season 2.[33]
Shahs history
| Shahs | Seasons | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Current | |||
| Reza Farahan | Main | ||
| Golnesa "GG" Gharachedaghi | Main | ||
| Asa Soltan Rahmati | Main | ||
| Mike Shouhed | Main | ||
| Mercedes "MJ" Javid | Main | ||
| Lilly Ghalichi | Main | ||
| Leila Gharachedaghi | Recurring | ||
| Jessica Parido | Recurring | ||
| Former | |||
| Sammy Younai | Main | Recurring | |
| Anita Gohari | Recurring | Guest | |
| Omid Kalantari | Recurring | ||
Episodes
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 6 | March 11, 2012 | April 15, 2012 | |
| 2 | 13 | December 2, 2012 | March 10, 2013 | |
| 3 | 16 | November 5, 2013 | February 25, 2014 | |
| 4 | 16 | March 2, 2015 | June 15, 2015 | |
| 5 | 17 | April 10, 2016 | August 3, 2016 | |
| 6 | 15 | July 16, 2017 | October 29, 2017 | |
| 7 | 15 | August 2, 2018 | November 29, 2018 | |
| 8 | 15 | February 9, 2020 | July 26, 2020 | |
| 9 | 15 | May 16, 2021 | August 29, 2021 | |
Reception
Community reaction
Before the show debuted, there was concern among the Persian-American diaspora that Shahs of Sunset would promote an unwelcome image at a particularly tense historical moment.[13] Firoozeh Dumas, author of Funny in Farsi, worried that "Americans have a chance to see a slice of materialistic, shallow and downright embarrassing Iranian culture. I just want to shout, 'We are not all like that!'" Two-time Mayor of Beverly Hills, Jimmy Delshad, voiced concerns that instead of showcasing the professional class of doctors, lawyers and business executives, the show would "take us back and make us look like undesirable people."[13] Iranian American Novelist Porochista Khakpour took issue with the cast's self-description as "Persian" rather than "Iranian", but otherwise found the show to be just another reality television show in the "been-there-done-that Kardashian-Real-Housewives-Jersey Shore mash-up" with characters that reminded her of elements in those she grew up with in the diaspora.[4] West Hollywood's City Council passed a resolution on March 22, 2012 condemning the show.[10] Professor Gina B. Nahai lamented the cast as "unattractive, unsophisticated, unproductive" and "consists entirely of every negative stereotype floating around this city about the community".[45] Author and scholar Reza Aslan felt the concerns of the Persian community was overstated, commenting "Only the most moronic viewers would watch 'Shahs of Sunset' and extract an opinion about Iranians and Iran."[13]
In response to criticism producer Ryan Seacrest dismissed the notion the series would cast the community in a bad light, describing the show as simply "escapism" that is "meant to be entertaining and fun."[13] The president of Bravo described the cast members as representative of what the channel deems "affluencers:" 30-something, upscale, highly educated and influential."[13]
The members of the cast have stated that they portray a more Americanized and modern version of Persians than those depicted in such films as 2012's Argo, where Iranians are depicted in ways they felt made them "savages" or "homeless people." Mike Shouhed has commented that the show's producers sometimes add to the confusion by using Arabic music on the show; Reza Farahan has received mistaken feedback complimenting Arab American culture.[46]
Critical reaction
The show holds a 48 out of 100 score from Metacritic.[47] Mike Hale's review in The New York Times commented that the show's characters "are a more diverting bunch than the high school football coaches and community activists of the well-meaning, admirable but prosaic All-American Muslim on TLC", but the "one really unfortunate thing about Shahs of Sunset is the way it exploits, and will in turn amplify, a previously localized phenomenon: the longstanding stereotyping of Los Angeles's Iranian-Americans as vulgar, materialistic show-offs who don’t fit in among the city’s supposedly more cultured elites."[48] Tom Conroy of Media Life Magazine mentions that the show sparks some interest due to the cultural backgrounds of the cast, "but that is nearly outweighed by their dislikability."[49] Verne Gay of Newsday described the show as "Another insufferable nose-pressed-against-the-glass reality romp that says the rich are just like you and me -- only rich, and exceedingly, tiresomely narcissistic."[50] Linda Stasi of the New York Post wrote: "If the goal of Bravo’s newest stereotyping gang bang, Shahs of Sunset, is to make Persians in LA look like egomaniacs, soulless bores whom you wouldn't want to spend five minutes with, let alone an hour, then they've succeeded."[51]
References
- ^ "Bravo Launches New Docu-Series "Shahs of Sunset" on Sunday, March 11 at 10 pm ET/PT". Retrieved December 8, 2012.
- ^ Jethro Nededog, Bravo Renews 'Shahs of Sunset' for Second Season, Hollywood Reporter, April 17, 2012, accessed April 17, 2012.
- ^ "Bravo Media's "Shahs of Sunset" Earned Series Highs Among All Key Demos With 1.5 Million Total Viewers, Up 56 Percent Among Adults 18-49". Retrieved December 8, 2012.
- ^ a b Porochista Khakpour, A New Persian Empire Plants a Personal Flag, The New York Times, March 6, 2012, accessed February 6, 2013.
- ^ Bibel, Sara (April 2, 2013). "Bravo Greenlights 17 New and 18 Returning Unscripted Series". TV by the Numbers.
- ^ Bibel, Sara (September 18, 2013). "Bravo Sets November Premiere Dates for 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills & Atlanta', 'Shahs of Sunset', 'Thicker Than Water' & More". TV by the Numbers (Press release).
- ^ Lynn Ebler, Reza Farahan, Gay Iranian, Stars In Bravo's 'Shahs Of Sunset' Reality Show, Huffington Post, March 10, 2012, accessed April 14, 2012.
- ^ Yvonne Villarreal, 'Shahs of Sunset' star Reza Farahan: It's not National Geographic, LATimes.com, April 3, 2012, accessed April 14, 2012.
- ^ 'Shahs of Sunset': Reza's Family Torn Apart By Religious Issues (VIDEO), Huffington Post, April 9, 2012, accessed April 14, 2012.
- ^ a b c Gary Baum, 'Shahs of Sunset' Stars on LA's Love and Hate Relationship With 'Persian Palaces', Hollywood Reporter, March 30, 2012, accessed January 21, 2013.
- ^ a b c d e Charlotte Safavi, Shahs of Sunset: Episode 3 With a Nugget From Episode 1, Huffington Post, March 28, 2012, accessed April 14, 2012.
- ^ Diana Falzone, 'Shahs of Sunset' star GG kicked out of 10 schools, says she'll 'always be a spoiled brat', FoxNews.com, February 6, 2013
- ^ a b c d e f Martha Groves, 'Shahs of Sunset' stirs concerns among Iranian Americans, Los Angeles Times, March 8, 2012, accessed February 7, 2013.
- ^ Green Architect Design - Home of the top architecture company based in California
- ^ Shahs Of Sunset Recap: “Being A Skinny Bitch Ain’t Everything”, RealityTea, January 14, 2013, accessed January 30, 2013.
- ^ Mike Shouhed from Shahs of Sunset Praises GG Extensions Launch, LALate.com, January 20, 2013, accessed January 30, 2013.
- ^ Shahs of Sunset's Golnesa "GG" Gharachedaghi Is Engaged to Omid Kalantari: All About the Proposal!, Us Weekly, December 10, 2012, accessed January 21, 2013.
- ^ Shahs of Sunset's Golnesa "GG" Gharachedaghi Breaks Off Engagement to Omid Kalantari, Us Weekly, January 22, 2013, accessed January 30, 2013.
- ^ Lynn Ebler, 'Shahs of Sunset' Star GG: We Are The Rosa Parks Of Reality TV, Huffington Post, January 22, 2013, accessed January 30, 2013.
- ^ Diamond Water by Asa Gets Splash on WWHL, LALate.com, January 27, 2013, accessed January 30, 2013.
- ^ TAMARATATTLES EXCLUSIVE: Steaming Hot Persian Tea on Who Shahs of Sunset’s Asa Soltan Rahmati is Dating, tamaratattles.com, December 19, 2012, accessed January 21, 2013.
- ^ a b "Q&A: Asa Soltan Rahmati Talks 'Shahs of Sunset'". MSN TV. Retrieved April 15, 2012.
- ^ David Hay (October 25, 2007). "Modern in style, bohemian in spirit". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 5, 2012.; Note: the article originally claimed the two were married, but a retraction published at Cheyene's behest on April 25, 2012 denies they were ever married.
- ^ Mike Shouhed, BravoTV.com, accessed January 28, 2013.
- ^ Jana Waring, Shahs of Sunset Episode 8: RECAP, Reality Nation, January 21, 2013, accessed January 28, 2013.
- ^ Magic Mike: 'Shahs of Sunset' star Mike Shouhed to strip for Playgirl, New York Daily News, January 24, 2013, accessed January 28, 2013.
- ^ Erin O'Sullivan, Shahs Of Sunset’s Mercedes ‘MJ’ Javid Opens Up About Weight Struggles: A Doctor Put Me On Diet Pills At Age 14, Access Hollywood, February 6, 2013.
- ^ Nik Richie, Shahs Of Sunset Mercedes “MJ” Javid Is Not Who You Think, TheDirty.com, January 8, 2013, accessed March 5, 2013.
- ^ Shahs of Sunset Star Mercedes MJ Javid Has A Criminal Past, RealityTea, January 8, 2013, accessed March 5, 2013.
- ^ Shahs Of Sunset Reunion Recap: Part Two Of Friends Ripping Each Other Apart, RealityTea, March 4, 2013, accessed March 5, 2013.
- ^ 'SHAHS OF SUNSET' Slammed by Hot Model ... I'm the Real 'Persian Barbie', TMZ.com, December 2, 2012, accessed January 26, 2013.
- ^ The Designers, Have Faith Swimgerie, accessed January 20, 2013.
- ^ a b Jana Waring, Shahs of Sunset Episode 4: RECAP, Reality Nation, December 23, 2012, accessed January 21, 2013.
- ^ Lilly Ghalichi, Life is a Gift, Lilly Ghalichi's Blog, June 15, 2012, accessed January 28, 2013.
- ^ HONOREE LISTING McCombs School of Business Distinguished Scholar, The University of Texas at Austin, 2004, accessed January 20, 2013.
- ^ HONOREE LISTING McCombs School of Business Distinguished Scholar, The University of Texas at Austin, 2005 accessed January 20, 2013.
- ^ a b Fame Brief: The Sun Sets On Jokes About AIDS, AboveTheLaw.com, December 13, 2012, accessed January 20, 2013.
- ^ CalBar Attorney license, accessed January 20, 2013.
- ^ Lilly Ghalichi, Lilly and Ali, Lilly Ghalichi's Blog, December 30, 2012, accessed January 28, 2013.
- ^ See Lilly Ghalichi's comment dated June 14, 2012 at 11:19 AM: "My boyfriend was cheating on me because I was never available (ASSHOLE)" -- Lilly Ghalichi, Omg SHOES!!, Lilly Ghalichi's Blog, June 13, 2012, accessed January 28, 2013.
- ^ 'Shahs Of Sunset' Star Lilly Ghalichi Apologizes For AIDS Joke, Instinct, December 10, 2012, accessed January 20, 2013.
- ^ Ilana Angel, A Conversation with Sammy Younai of Shahs of Sunset, The Jewish Journal, March 25, 2012, accessed January 21, 2013.
- ^ Got $58 Million Lying Around? Buy the Mansion Featured on Shahs of Sunset!, RealityTea, July 11, 2012, accessed January 21, 2013.
- ^ Morgan Brennan, Celebrity Developer Mohamed Hadid Asking $58 Million For Crescent Palace, Forbes, June 28, 2012, accessed January 21, 2013.
- ^ Gina Nahai The bad, the worse and the ugly, The Jewish Journal, February 29 2012, accessed February 7, 2013.
- ^ Ramin Setoodeh, ‘Shahs of Sunset’ Cast Members Review Ben Affleck’s ‘Argo’, The Daily Beast, December 3, 2012, accessed February 7, 2013.
- ^ Shahs of Sunset: Season 1
- ^ Mike Hale, The Children of Old Tehran Go Hollywood, The New York Times, March 9, 2012, accessed February 7, 2013.
- ^ 'Shahs of Sunset,' spoiled Iranian brats
- ^ Review: 'Shahs of Sunset,' familiar Bravo fare
- ^ "Money can't buy class on Persian 'Jersey Shore'".