How ‘The Golden Bachelor’ Changed TV

It struck a thunderous blow on behalf of 50-plus representation on-screen.

A-list movie stars like Kevin Costner, Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren are increasingly present on scripted hit TV shows, but reality TV — whose audience skews older — has been resistant to casting grownups. Now that Gerry Turner and his ladies are the buzziest new stars of the fall season, expect to see more new beautiful faces on reality TV with a few wrinkles. “The Golden Bachelor will encourage some of the 30-something execs in Hollywood to reconsider their previous prejudices about doing a television show about love within the Social Security set," says Pepper Schwartz, 78, a relationship expert on Lifetime's Married at First Sight. "Love between two people who have loved and lost over a lifetime might be even more profound than seeing younger men and women search for love."

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Gerry Turner and Leslie together in the hot tub.

It showed that grownups on TV can score on streaming, not just old-school TV.

The Golden Bachelor wasn’t just watched on broadcast TV — it set records on streaming too, becoming the most popular Bachelor show in years and the most-streamed ABC show ever on Hulu. The over-50 audience is looming ever larger in the streaming audience as well as keeping broadcast TV in business.

It proved that older viewers aren’t the only ones interested in older faces on-screen.

“We have this idea that, oh, a show about young people young people will watch, a show about old people old people will watch, and that's not necessarily the case,” says Robert Thompson, trustee professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Communications. “Golden Girls [whose characters were in their 50s] was a huge hit before Friends [with a 20ish cast] was, and at schools where I’ve taught, sororities had Golden Girls viewing parties, after it was in reruns five days a week.” The Golden Bachelor won fans young and old right away.

The women of "The Golden Bachelor."

Ricky Middlesworth/ABC

It may spin off a ‘Golden Bachelorette’ show.

Given how well they did as love-seekers, it’s hard to imagine that ABC won’t cast women over 50 as the object of a bevy of silver-fox bachelors’ attention. More than one contestant told AARP she would eagerly volunteer to be on such a show.

It made reality TV nicer.

Bachelor shows and reality TV in general are famous for cruelty, but with a very few exceptions, The Golden Bachelor featured exceedingly kindly people. There was one big spat, when Kathy gave Theresa a tongue-lashing for making Kathy feel like Theresa thought she had Gerry in the bag. But Gerry sent angry Kathy packing, and it was the ultra-nice Theresa who made it to the final showdown episode. The women clearly had a ball being together even when Gerry was away — sometimes they even had more fun together than when they were on dates with him.

Gerry’s lovers weren’t as shallowly appearance-focused as past, youthful Bachelor contestants, nor was he. “What I look for at the age of 70 is different than what I looked for in high school and college,” he sensibly said.

It made everybody feel better — even (after a tear or two) the losers.

Contestant Sandra, 75, said she treasured meeting not only Gerry, but also her ostensible rivals: “I made friendships, relationships. I have ‘sister wives,’ pen pals, phone pals now that I didn’t have before."

Gerry Turner with Theresa, one of the two finalists of "The Golden Bachelor."

John Fleenor/Disney

It made everybody over 50 feel like romantic happiness is still in the cards.

“It actually changes people’s perspective about aging,” contestant Natascha, 60, told AARP after leaving the show. “I love the whole time that I did it. I have no regrets. I’m just so happy.”

“I can move forward,” Sandra told AARP after Gerry sent her home roseless yet with a spring in her step and a renewed appetite for love. “I’m more motivated now. I know that if there’s one great guy out there, there are others and my time will come. You can find love after 80 — I mean, what’s the limit? The limit is within yourself.”