‘The Golden Bachelor’: ABC Announces Senior-Focused ‘Bachelor’ Spinoff For This Fall
Post updated July 18, 2023, at 5:15pm CT
It’s been talked about for awhile, but ABC made it official during its annual upfront presentation on May 16 — a senior-focused entry in the popular Bachelor dating show franchise, called The Golden Bachelor, will be debuting on the network in Fall 2023.
The writers’ strike may have expedited this show finally getting scheduled (ABC’s announced fall lineup is mostly reality series such as this, and game shows), but however it happened, it is nice to see that the show will finally air.
ABC offered this description of The Golden Bachelor:
“After more than 20 years of fostering young love on “The Bachelor,” “The Bachelorette” and “Bachelor in Paradise,” “The Golden Bachelor” showcases a whole new kind of love story – one for the golden years. On this all-new unscripted series, one hopeless romantic is given a second chance at love in the search for a partner with whom to share the sunset years of life. The women arriving at the mansion have a lifetime of experience, living through love, loss and laughter, hoping for a spark that ignites a future full of endless possibilities. In the end, will our Golden man turn the page to start a new chapter with the woman of his dreams?”
What the show means exactly when it references “the golden years” isn’t exactly clear at this point, but based on past comments from producers when they have teased a Bachelor edition for older people, not to mention an image on the show’s casting site, it seems that The Golden Bachelor will be featuring people age 60 and older who are seeking love. (Hopefully, they don’t take “golden” to mean someone in their 40s or something!)
That would really would be an astonishing change for a franchise that has, like most of society, seen 20-somethings, and maybe 30-somethings, to a degree, as the only age groups interested in romance, love and sex.
ABC may also have realized the untapped potential audience of older viewers for a program like this who have a wide range of interests and are not only tuning in for things like Blue Bloods or NCIS. The Hollywood Reporter has pointed out that the median age for an ABC viewer is about 61 years old, and cited a recent survey indicating that more than 40 percent of the Bachelor audience is over age 55.
And, this seems like a premise that can also appeal to viewers across many generations, since we older folks are every bit as capable — if not more so — of demonstrating the type of dating and relationship craziness and drama, as well as the sweetness and emotion, that makes the Bachelor shows so popular.
Remind Just as with The Bachelor, The Golden Bachelor will be having one man choosing from a group of women arriving at a mansion (the casting site indicates it is seeking “active, single, outgoing men in their golden years”).
On July 17, it was announced that the first “Golden Bachelor” who will be looking for love on the show will be 71-year-old Gerry Turner.
It’s unclear how the women whom this “golden man” will be getting to know will be chosen; hopefully, they will be within the man’s age group and not considerably younger, which would be a disappointment. Hopefully, too, if this show succeeds, maybe we will also see a Golden Bachelorette spinoff!
There aren’t many more details about the series right now, as it appears they may still be finalizing the show’s casting (the casting page indicates that the show will be going into production later this summer, in July and August).
The Golden Bachelor is slated to air Monday nights this fall (right after Dancing With the Stars, which is returning to ABC after streaming on Disney+ last season), though an exact premiere date has not been announced yet. We’ll keep you up to date on this and other details as they become available.
In the meantime, what do you think of this idea?
Will you be tuning in to — or maybe even auditioning to be on — The Golden Bachelor?
Remind