I have two other posts in the process of being written, yet this is the one I’m writing right now because I think I’ve seen everything vomitorious on TV at this point.
Except I haven’t. They are starting an ABC Bachelor series for the Social Security set.
They explain the series as the following:
One hopeless, romantic, is given a second chance at love in the search for a partner, with whom to share the sunset years of his life.
~ The Golden Bachelor
OK I think I just threw up a little in my mouth. But wait, there’s more and they all play pickle ball or is it hide the pickle I’m not really sure. and yes, I am being super sarcastic because this just blows my mind at the new level of drivel of reality TV.
Those writers in Hollywood settled their strike right? Because I don’t think Americans can handle any more reality TV
OK and they have this poor man on some of the ads in a mustard colored suit. It’s like they stole an old Weichert Realty blazer for him.
And OMG, these women. Maybe 3 seem real, and the shot of a late middle aged leg putting on pantyhose? Sort of a retro No Nonsense ad or something…
I’m not the only one that thinks this is going to be nothing short of appalling as a reality series given this article, I just found in the Washington Post:
The Golden Bachelor Is No Way to Entertain Seniors
Analysis by Bobby Ghosh | Bloomberg
September 28, 2023 at 12:18 p.m. EDT
As an increase in cord-cutting leaves networks with smaller audiences, a strategy to attract more senior viewers — traditional network TV’s bread and butter — has become more essential. If we are to believe the publicity campaign around The Golden Bachelor, which starts airing Thursday evening, ABC wants the show to right two wrongs: That romance among senior citizens does not get enough attention; and that not enough programming is created for that age group, the network’s core viewership.Those goals are, respectively, commendable and commercially sound. But I am skeptical ABC can thread that pair of needles with a retread of a hoary old reality TV format originally designed to exploit the brazenness of twentysomethings looking for love in luxe locales. Since Disney CEO Bob Iger hinted over the summer that the company’s linear networks were on the chopping block, you have to to wonder if ABC doesn’t care at this point or is just bad at programming.The Bachelor franchise is growing long in the tooth, and the network is counting on the spinoff to provide a much-needed refresh. But the trailers for The Golden Bachelor allow for no optimism that the show will greatly deviate from the formula: The bachelor and the 22 women seeking his affections in a lavish Southern California mansion will serve up the same mix of entitlement (his) and desperation (theirs) that has characterized every iteration of the franchise over two decades.
That Gerry Turner, the eponymous “golden” bachelor, is 72, and the competing women range from 60 to 75, is fodder for cliches and jokes about age — and pickleball, a game many of them say they play. In the previews, the women wear gowns and dresses, rather than bikinis….While they wait for the first original reality TV show targeted at them, senior citizens can thank goodness for streaming services, where there’s a growing library of scripted content about and for their cohort. The gold standard remains As Time Goes By, the 1992-2005 BBC series starring Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer as grown-ups navigating the tricky shoals of romance. If the folks at ABC don’t want to take a chance with originality, they’d do well to seek inspiration here.
Some of these women are downright terrifying. And he is sadly just very creepy. And this whole series is just trying too hard and kind of insulting to those who are later middle-aged into senior citizen age range everywhere.
I turn 60 next year. I honestly don’t know what I think about it. Because it’s one of those ages when you were a kid you thought was so old only it’s not. And I was looking at the preview for the series, which I think starts in October, and the majority of the women are just so fake. I just don’t do fake well.
Maybe this will be the reality series. Everyone watches in the fall because it’s like a train wreck or a car accident and there is gaper delay and you can’t look away.
But seriously, it’s been a long time since I laughed so hard at a preview of a TV show not trying to be funny.
Is Senior Survivor next?