Think of them as two relatives -- the fun uncle and the serious one, the noisy party guy and the one who paid for the party.

That, roughly, is "Shahs of Sunset" (10 p.m. Sundays on Bravo) and "The Iranian Americans" (9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 18, on most PBS stations).

In Michigan, I've had a first-hand view of a vibrant Arab-American community.

In Lansing, where I live, that's mainly the Lebanese; they've been the area's leading lawyers, developers, business people and (a bit of a detour here) contemporary dancers. Elsewhere, people from other Middle East countries have thrived; you couldn't tell that, however, by what you see on TV.

This is a retraction
concerning a story I wrote on the “Shahs of Sunset” reality show.

It was a good story, but it referred to
the person being interviewed (Asa Rahmati) as being married to
Shaahin Cheyene. Since then, Cheyene has said – quite definitely –
that he isn't and never has been married to her.

(A while back, I sent papers a story on the new
“Shahs of Sunset” series and its most interesting person, Asa Soltan Rahmati. Since then, one person has said his name should not be in the story; he is not married to Rahmati, he said, and he's not involved with her.

(The original confusion may have started with a Los Angeles Times article I mentioned in the story. Let's err on the side of making sure everything is accurate; here's the story, now with that that paragraph omitted.)