‘Golden Bachelor’ Not Only Upped the Stakes — It Upgraded the ‘Bachelorverse’ Look

After 21 years on the air in its various iterations, “The Bachelor” has become an easy show to take for granted. To a certain degree, the producers are victims of their own generosity and smooth engineering; we never have to wait long enough for a new season of “The Bachelor” (or “The Bachelorette” or “Bachelor in Paradise“) to miss it, and the show is so well crafted that the audience isn’t aware of the craft at all — it feels like life is just unfolding before our eyes. Yet to ignore the artistry behind the camera on “The Bachelor” is to miss the fact that the franchise is one of the most thoughtfully constructed entertainments on television, non-fiction or not; each season is an expertly assembled rom-com epic, with impeccably cast ensembles worthy of Robert Altman and penetrating observational insights that make “The Bachelor” so much more than a mere dating show — it’s a meditation on the core questions raised by falling and staying in love in the 21st century and how economical, technological, and familial circumstances shape them. It’s also very, very, very funny.

The franchise’s latest variation, “The Golden Bachelor,” is funny too, and thoughtful and moving in ways that build on “The Bachelor” template but go further and deeper. The show follows Gerry Turner, a 72-year-old widower who gets a second chance at love by meeting and dating 22 women until he narrows the field down to the person he wants to spend the rest of his life with. It’s the same formula that we’ve seen since the original “Bachelor” premiered in 2002, but right from the beginning of the season, the emotional stakes feel far higher. Whereas typical seasons of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” feature contestants in their 20s and 30s, many of whom, in the parlance of the show, are not there “for the right reasons,” the new show’s cast of senior citizens is clearly serious about finding love — and clearly aware that they don’t have a lot of time left to find it.

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“In a non-morbid sort of way, time is running out,” showrunner Claire Freeland told IndieWire. “They’re entering that chapter in their life where they’ve had their careers, they’ve had their kids, and they want to spend this time not alone, but sharing it with someone else. They still crave intimacy and a romantic connection and the companionship. So I think the stakes were higher not only for Gerry but for the women as well.” During the casting process, many of the women told Freeland and the other producers that they saw “The Golden Bachelor” as their last chance, underlining the urgency of the situation. “No one was there for the ‘gram,” showrunner Bennett Graebner told IndieWire.

Yet one of the most powerful and inspiring aspects of the series is the way that the women learn that, whether their futures are with Gerry or not, the possibility of romance is not gone from their lives. “We heard from so many women as they left that this had changed their entire perspective,” showrunner Jason Ehrlich told IndieWire. “They said, ‘It’s not over for me. This proves there’s love out there, and now I’m even more fired up to get out there and find it.” This points to one of the reasons “The Golden Bachelor” is perhaps the most uplifting viewing experience in the Bachelorverse to date: It hints at happy endings not only for Gerry and the last woman standing but for many of the bachelorettes who are sent home. “I doubt that most of these women will be single a year from now,” Graebner added.

As for Gerry, the producers acknowledge that they struck gold when their search for a “Golden Bachelor” ended at his doorstep. “We weren’t looking for a silver fox,” Ehrlich said. “Obviously we were looking for someone handsome — and we should all be so lucky to look as good as Gerry when we’re 72 — but really we were looking for someone authentic who people would identify with and root for.” Gerry’s genuine desire to find love, combined with his willingness to take some bold steps in his life, made him an ideal candidate. “He wasn’t too tethered to where he was living and he was willing to move around,” Freeland said. “He’s kind of at a crossroads: ‘Am I going to stay here and keep living in Indiana, or am I going to move somewhere to be with a new woman I fall in love with?’ He was so open to the experience and so generous with his personal story.”

That story — of a man who married his high school sweetheart, lost her unexpectedly after 43 years of marriage, and is now opening his heart again after years of dealing with brutal loss — is inherently affecting, all the more so given Gerry’s evident humility and kindness. Yet the greatness of “The Golden Bachelor” goes beyond merely documenting Gerry’s journey — it’s the way in which that journey is documented, with a more sophisticated approach to the filmmaking, that gives “The Golden Bachelor” more emotional impact than its predecessors. “Because this is a new franchise for us, we were able to take some risks,” said Ehrlich. “We upgraded our cameras, and this is the first time the show has been shot on 24p — we upgraded the entire look of the show.”

Shooting in 24p gives “The Golden Bachelor” a more cinematic look and feel and increases the emotional intimacy; where previous incarnations of the Bachelorverse had the look of soap operas or other reality shows, this one has a softer, more inviting style. The approach to music helps in that regard as well; anyone expecting the producers to rest on their laurels and unthinkingly repeat themselves was likely surprised by the series’ opening, in which we are drawn into Gerry’s story with Cat Stevens’ “The Wind” playing under images of his marriage. “I give [ABC executive] Rob Mills all the credit in the world for giving us the freedom to do that,” Ehrlich said. “He looked at the original opening to the show and said, ‘We have to start differently.’ We had to try something different to really grab people and say, ‘It’s the same show we all know and love, but it’s going to be fresh and different.”

Another difference is the show’s running time, one hour rather than the usual two; there are also fewer hometown dates and “fantasy suite” dates on the series, an experiment that Ehrlich feels has worked to the show’s advantage. “So many people have said it’s not long enough,” he said. “I’ll take that any day, rather than, ‘Oof, it’s too long.'” Ehrlich added that the lessons the showrunners learned on “The Golden Bachelor” could inform their work on the rest of the “Bachelor” shows moving forward. “I think we’ll probably take some of those tools with us to give the stories more resonance.”

Another smart move on the part of “The Golden Bachelor” is that it doesn’t condescend to its cast or viewers with stale clichés about aging; while the dates might be less physically arduous than on “The Bachelor” or “The Bachelorette,” there’s no shuffleboard or bingo. “We’re mindful of not playing into stereotypes,” Graebner said. “These people in their 60s and 70s are full of life, and we wanted the dates to reflect that.” Running beneath even the silliest and most escapist dates, however, is the gravitas that comes with featuring older cast members, and the closer the show gets to its conclusion, the more emotionally intense — and at times even devastating — each rose ceremony becomes. So what can viewers expect from the season finale on November 30? “I know we say this often,” Ehrlich said, “but it really is the most shocking finale we’ve ever seen.”

“The Golden Bachelor” premieres new episodes on ABC every Thursday night at 8 p.m ET.

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