\n<\/p>\n
Drivers in Los Angeles heading north on La Cienega Boulevard these days might notice a bronzed gentleman smiling down at them from billboards poised on either side of the street.<\/p>\n
He is Gerry Turner, an Indiana retiree who used to work in the food distribution industry. But as one of the billboards<\/a> explains, those were not the qualifications that led to his becoming the star of the newest \u201cBachelor\u201d spinoff.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s hot. He\u2019s sexy. He\u2019s 72.\u201d<\/p>\n The appraisal was taken from a recent headline<\/a> about Turner, who as the first \u201cGolden Bachelor\u201d is the center of a new spin on the franchise that features singles 60 and older.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is certainly the first time in a \u2018Bachelor\u2019 campaign that we used a quote from AARP in our billboards,\u201d said Shannon Ryan, who oversees the show\u2019s marketing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n That \u201cThe Bachelor\u201d is trying a slight variation on a tested formula is no revelation. The show\u2019s myriad spinoffs have included \u201cThe Bachelorette,\u201d \u201cBachelor in Paradise,\u201d \u201cThe Bachelor\u201d in Canada, \u201cThe Bachelor\u201d in wintry weather<\/a>, \u201cThe Bachelor\u201d with a cash prize<\/a>, and \u201cThe Bachelor\u201d featuring people who work in the music industry.<\/a><\/p>\n But in all of those variations on the theme, most of the eligible singles have been young, fresh-faced 20- or 30-somethings looking to marry for the first time. In \u201cThe Golden Bachelor,\u201d which premieres on Thursday, the nearly two dozen women vying for Turner\u2019s attention are between 60 and 75 and include divorc\u00e9es, widows, mothers and grandmothers.<\/p>\n Sitting in the show\u2019s Mediterranean-style mansion in Agoura Hills, Calif., last month, a few hours before an evening of filming began, Bennett Graebner, one of the showrunners, recalled the new cast\u2019s giddy introduction to the lavish home, with its infinity pool and Jacuzzis that look out onto the tree-dotted hills.<\/p>\n At first, he said, the contestants\u2019 reactions were similar to the ones he has seen over his 15 years as a producer for \u201cThe Bachelor.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey ran around and looked at their bedrooms and yelled off the balcony, and we said, \u2018OK, this feels like \u201cThe Bachelor,\u201d\u2019\u201d Graebner said. \u201cAnd they came down to the kitchen and had mimosas and they were doing toasts, and we said, \u2018OK, this feels like \u201cThe Bachelor.\u201d\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cAnd then,\u201d he went on, \u201cone woman said, \u2018Let\u2019s toast to Social Security!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n He hadn\u2019t heard that one before.<\/p>\n With \u201cThe Golden Bachelor,\u201d ABC is recognizing that a core segment of its audience \u2014 the network\u2019s median viewer age is 64 \u2014 has thus far been largely ignored in the ever-growing array of dating shows. (The median age drops to 42 for ABC shows streaming on Hulu.)<\/p>\n In recent years, some programs have experimented with older participants, though not on this level and not with much success.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In \u201cDating Around,\u201d Netflix\u2019s first original dating series, which had its debut the year before \u201cLove Is Blind\u201d became a global phenomenon<\/a>, the fan favorite was Leonard, a 70-year-old private investigator. On his dinner dates, he reminisced about doing LSD in his younger years and danced the Lindy Hop with one woman on the sidewalk.<\/p>\n Last year, executive producers behind the popular dating show \u201cLove Island\u201d introduced a new show called \u201cMy Mom, Your Dad<\/a>\u201d on HBO Max, in which college-age adults watched their parents dating each other from a secret viewing room. The show didn\u2019t last long, but an adaptation in Britain called \u201cMy Mum, Your Dad\u201d<\/a> just had its finale.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n And then there\u2019s \u201cMILF Manor\u201d on TLC, in which eight mothers in their 40s, 50s and 60s found themselves at a Mexican hotel in a dating pool that consisted of their adult sons.<\/p>\n Howard Lee, the president of TLC, said that \u201cMILF Manor\u201d intrigued the network because of its age bracket, which stuck out from the deluge of dating show pitches he gets featuring people in their 20s and 30s.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the first time, this was a series that didn\u2019t go in that direction,\u201d he said. \u201cMILF Manor\u201d had a viral moment<\/a> on social media \u2014 partly driven by its similarity to a \u201c30 Rock\u201d<\/a> gag \u2014 but it is not yet clear whether it will get a second season.<\/p>\n With \u201cThe Golden Bachelor,\u201d in which the participants are as young as 60, the idea is getting its tryout in an altogether different league. After more than two decades, \u201cThe Bachelor\u201d franchise remains a reality juggernaut, and \u201cThe Golden Bachelor\u201d will be one of ABC\u2019s biggest releases this fall, in part because of the network\u2019s narrowed list of offerings during the Hollywood writers\u2019 and actors\u2019 strikes.<\/p>\n If \u201cThe Golden Bachelor\u201d succeeds, expect more opportunities to arise for senior singles to look for love on television.<\/p>\n The showrunners said a broader cultural shift toward embracing, rather than hiding, aging helped pave the way for this show.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cMartha Stewart is on the cover of Sports Illustrated at 80 or so years old,\u201d said Jason Ehrlich, one of three \u201cGolden Bachelor\u201d showrunners. \u201cJohn Stamos was posting photos of himself in the shower nude for his 60th birthday. There seems to be a moment where there\u2019s an appetite for this.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBachelor\u201d producers have been talking about a show like this for about a decade. Their efforts to make it a reality started in earnest in 2019, and they began circulating ads<\/a> to recruit \u201cseniors looking for love\u201d in 2020. But Covid-19 put the idea on hold. (\u201cThis is not the show to make in the middle of a pandemic,\u201d Graebner said.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n When the producers returned to the concept earlier this year, they rediscovered Turner\u2019s audition tape. In it he explains that he is ready to find another partner after losing his wife of 43 years, whom he met in high school, to a sudden infection.<\/p>\n In an interview, Turner, a father and grandfather, said he is \u201cvery, very grateful, not just for myself but for people my age, that this show has been developed and it has come to reality.\u201d<\/p>\n The women of \u201cThe Golden Bachelor\u201d brought into the mansion a certain self-assured humor that comes with age, the show\u2019s producers said. For example, the cast debated for days whether it was Susan\u2019s meatballs or Edith\u2019s guacamole that gave the house gas. And in Thursday\u2019s premiere episode, when one of the women steps out of the limousine and greets Turner she opens with one thing they both have in common: hearing aids.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The women\u2019s fun facts<\/a> include that Christina\u2019s first concert was the Beatles in 1964 and that Kathy is \u201cOBSESSED\u201d with Christmas. Several of the participants, including Turner, share an enthusiasm for pickleball. And some of the women also have long careers behind them; Marina, 60, has three master\u2019s degrees.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we cast for the other shows, some of the younger kids come to us and they have a feeling that they need to present a version of themselves that we want to see,\u201d said Claire Freeland, the third \u201cGolden Bachelor\u201d showrunner. \u201cThese women were just themselves from the jump.\u201d<\/p>\n When dating shows have included older people in the past, it has often been as a kind of gimmick. The original \u201cDating Game,\u201d which premiered in 1965, once brought on Kathryn Minner, an actress who was known for playing the \u201clittle old lady\u201d characters on TV, movies and, most famously, in an ad campaign<\/a> for Dodge vehicles.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Bachelor\u201d has always been fond of puns and stunts, and the golden edition is likely to have plenty of age-related bits. In the mansion, there is a supply of Werther\u2019s Originals \u2014 just like in your grandmother\u2019s living room \u2014 and the show\u2019s promo introducing the female contestants includes footage<\/a> of a woman cleaning her glasses and another slipping on pantyhose, to the tune of \u201cBelieve\u201d by Cher.<\/p>\n But the producers have tried to let the age-related humor be driven by the participants themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re never laughing at them, but we are certainly laughing with them,\u201d Ehrlich said. He said he studied the sitcom \u201cThe Golden Girls\u201d to find interesting conversation topics to pull out if things get dull.<\/p>\n The showrunners insist that this is not just a show for the older viewers of \u201cThe Bachelor,\u201d about 43 percent of whom are 55 and older, according to a 2020 YouGov poll.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n They think \u201cThe Golden Bachelor\u201d has the potential to bring generations together to watch a more-wholesome version of the franchise. They also hope that a different kind of cast can entice lapsed \u201cBachelor\u201d fans back into the fold and bring in new audiences who might have turned their noses up at the brand before now.<\/p>\n The ads, for example, won\u2019t have the typical reality show snippets of screaming-and-crying dramatics, opting instead for more uplifting messaging, said Ryan, the president of marketing for Disney Entertainment Television, which includes ABC.<\/p>\n