This fall ABC is making history with The Golden Bachelor, a Bachelor spinoff specifically for seniors. The groundbreaking reality series will mark another important step in ensuring senior love stories are significantly represented on television, and for that I am grateful. But did the show have to choose one of the sexiest, youngest older men around?
With this new vehicle, the Bachelor Franchise had the opportunity to take a sledgehammer to its mold and create a cute, wholesome, unusually attractive old man looking for love—a kind of Mr. John, if you want. Instead, the series chose a fit, barely silver fox with a strong social life: Gerry Turner.
Turner married his high school sweetheart, Toni, in 1974, but after 43 years together, she became ill and died in 2017. Now, Turner’s two daughters, Angie and Jenny (with with his nieces, Charlee and Payton), is encouraging him to get back into the dating game. And while I fully support his second shot at love and his plans to devour every second of Bachelor gold, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed about the casting.
The 71-year-old retired father and grandfather, who lives on a lake in Indiana, has dreamy blue eyes, movie-star good looks, and, according to ABC, is “usually busy hosting barbecues and playing football.” throwing, cheering on his favorite Chicago sports teams, four-wheeling and spending time with friends and family at local restaurants and hangouts.” I mean, BALLOON? FOUR WHEELS?! Golden Bachelor is great! Quite a fit! So be nimble! Damn good! And props to him for that. But we watch conventionally attractive people date and fall in love on The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise, and, uh, the majority of dating shows that exist on this earth. If ever there was a chance to embrace the casting of a truly unconventional — not just age-appropriate — lead role, this is it. But the original promo just felt like The Bachelor in a slightly different font, when I wanted to completely overhaul the show.
I hope the game will change when Bachelor Gold’s contestants are revealed, as ABC assures viewers that they “have a lifetime of experiences, living through love and loss and laughter, hoping of a ray of light illuminating a future full of endless possibilities.” Ultimately, ABC’s appearance and official bio only scratch the surface of the show. And no matter how attractive the lead position is, with a group of old people, the Golden Bachelor will certainly bring a series of dates and deep conversations, wisdom and maturity, as well as a series Hometown Days and Imagination Room like franchises never seen before. A lifetime of experience would ideally lead to less of the franchise’s predictable influence-chasing, influencer drama and contestant likeability, and more talk of epic love stories , lessons learned, descendants and emotions related to the elderly people outside the mansion.
So while ABC may have missed a golden opportunity to change up its traditional Hot Guy casting, here’s hoping The Golden Bachelor covers the entire spectrum of seniors as the series progresses.
