As the writers strike continues, ABC is leaning on unscripted TV for its fall 2023 lineup, including a new “Bachelor” spinoff titled “The Golden Bachelor.”
As its name suggests, “The Golden Bachelor” will be a version of “The Bachelor” with retirement-age participants.
“After more than 20 years of fostering young love on ‘The Bachelor,’ ‘The Bachelorette’ and ‘Bachelor in Paradise,’ ‘The Golden Bachelor’ showcases a whole new kind of love story — one for the golden years,” ABC says in a press release for the new show.
The network says that one “hopeless romantic” will be given a second shot at love as he searches for a partner with whom to share his sunset years.
“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,” ABC adds. “In the end, will our Golden man turn the page to start a new chapter with the woman of his dreams?”
The idea has been in the works for years, with ABC running a casting call for “seniors looking for love” in February 2020. “#BachelorNation, give us your Grumpiest Old Men, give us your Goldenest Girls,” Rob Mills, Walt Disney Television’s EVP of unscripted and alternative television, tweeted at the time. “To be clear, this is 65+.”
That July, Mills told Variety the idea was still alive but delayed by the pandemic.
“Some of the casting interviews we got, they were just so touching,” he revealed. “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.”
ABC announced “The Golden Bachelor” on Tuesday along with the rest of its fall primetime schedule, which is full of unscripted series like “Bachelor in Paradise,” “Celebrity Jeopardy!,” “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune,” and “Dancing With the Stars.”
As part of the schedule, “The Golden Bachelor” will air on Monday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT after “DWTS,” though ABC hasn’t announced its premiere date.
ABC is the only broadcast network with a strike-proof programming lineup for the fall, according to Deadline. The outlet also notes that ABC is hoping its scripted series — including “Grey’s Anatomy,” “The Rookie,” and the newly acquired “9-1-1″ — can hit the airwaves midseason, pending a resolution of the WGA dispute.