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After more than two decades of showing young adults exchanging roses in the name of romance, ABC will bring a more mature love to the screen with the debut of “The Golden Bachelor” dating show.
The idea for The Golden Bachelor was floated at the network for several years. In early 2020, ABC first set a casting call for older adults but plans were cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. ABC
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put out another casting call earlier this year.
ABC described the new show as featuring “whole new kind of love story — one for the golden years.”
The Golden Bachelor could appeal to ABC’s core demographic. The median age for an ABC viewer is a little over 61 years old, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Meanwhile, more than 40% of the Bachelor audience is older than 55, the industry journal said, citing a 2020 YouGov survey.
The leading man has yet to be announced, and the cast of female suitors will be released at a later date. Details on the exact ages also were not disclosed.
ABC said 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?”
In an 2020 interview with trade publication Variety, Rob Mills, ABC’s top unscripted executive, said “Some of the casting interviews we got, they were just so touching.”
“It’s such a different way of doing ‘The Bachelor’ because these people are just at a totally different place in their lives. There is an interesting thing about people who have hit the other end of the spectrum, who’ve lived their lives, they’ve raised their kids, some have been widowed or divorced and maybe some have never been in love. We thought that would be an interesting dynamic through the ‘Bachelor’ prism,” Mills told Variety.
Given the current writers strike in Hollywood, ABC and other networks are leaning heavily on “unscripted content” such as reality shows for their fall lineups. “The Golden Bachelor” will be aired along with returning series “Bachelor in Paradise,” which will air its ninth season in the fall. “The Bachelor” franchise also has included the flagship series “The Bachelor,” as well as “The Bachelorette.”
“The Golden Bachelor,” which will air Monday nights at 10 p.m. after “Dancing With the Stars,” is produced by Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Warner Horizon. The premiere date for the show has not been announced.
