You can find hundreds of seasons of reality dating shows. But I am asking you just to watch one.
Many romantics would agree with me that The Golden Bachelor is THE ONE worth watching. According to Nielsen (a global leader in media analytics), the 2023 premiere drew in 45% more viewers than that of The Bachelor season 27, which starred another millennial named Zach (and I say that as someone who is only a year younger than Zach).
Reality dating show viewers have started to get sick of our Zachs and Codys, and The Golden Bachelor finally gives you a romance you can root for. Gerry Turner, our resident golden bachelor, is the only leading man I want on my screen anymore. He is handsome, a great listener, sweet as can be, and is 72. What follows are five reasons to tune into this memorable season of reality TV.
1) It Has a Romance Worth Watching
Gerry is a man who loves deeply, and that is most true for his late wife. He was happily married for forty-three years to Toni, his high-school sweetheart, and they shared two daughters and two granddaughters. Toni passed away in 2017 after a short illness, leaving Gerry with a heart of grief.
But grief, as the saying goes, is love with nowhere to go. So, we witness Gerry falling head over heels for these incredible women on our screens. He is free with his words and “I Love Yous” because even if there is only one Ms. Gerry at the end of the story, he means every word.
Luckily, there is a Ms. Gerry, and you can watch their live televised wedding that took place less than a year after their season wrapped filming. Why waste time when you’re in love (and in your seventies)?
2) You Get to Witness Love in Different Forms
While The Golden Bachelor provides us with the long-overdue representation of older romantic love, that is not the only love we witness on our screens.
In a rare opportunity, we witness the women vying for Gerry’s romance show their hearts for each other. We see women who have spent a whole life loving a man who has passed and are ready to open their hearts again. We see mothers’ love for children, even one woman leaving the show prematurely because her adult daughter needed her. And we even see the women start loving themselves a little more. The Golden Bachelor takes the show’s premise—love—and runs with it for once.
3) It May Help You Get Over Your Fear of Growing Old… If Only a Bit
In 2023, the year of Taylor Swift and Barbie, the women show us that girlhood continues when you are grey. The women (and Gerry) are older, between the ages of 60 and 75, but their lives aren’t boring. They are active, sexy, and confident in a way that younger people often struggle with. They play party games (like Never Have I Ever), do each other’s hair, and dance around the kitchen while they cook. We see a generation that finally knows that growing old doesn’t have to be scary.
4) There Isn’t Enough Time to Focus on Drama
The Bachelor shows usually run for two hours, sometimes three, as they try to fit as much drama as possible into one episode. Some weeks, when the contestants don’t give the producers tension, they create it with old soundbites and fake narratives creatively edited from the footage. The Golden Bachelor doesn’t give us the same treatment. They fit the show into a manageable one-hour timeslot. And while there is still some drama, the producers don’t have the space to fabricate more, making the whole show feel much less scripted.
5) You Get to See Contestants There for “The Right Reasons”
Gerry and the women are not looking for wealth from brand deals or fame that will help propel a new career in reality television. While they had their moment in the stadium lights, there was no question whether these women were there for Gerry. They were there to find love, just as much as they stepped on our screens to show themselves and us that they are still worth loving.
It is still a reality TV show. Some parts will feel overproduced, dramatic, and far away from everyday life. But it is still worth the watch, and I look forward to seeing more shows that push the boundaries of what we usually see on our screens.
