There's a Bachelor Spinoff for Seniors, and it's Casting Right Now

From Oprah Magazine

• ABC is planning a Bachelor spin-off for older people called Golden Years

• During a February 24 episode of The Bachelor, a casting commercial seeking seniors "looking for love" aired.

• Currently in the casting phase, the show is looking for people ages 65 and up.

Are you single and in your golden years? Then this is your, err, golden opportunity to find love. ABC recently announced plans for a Bachelor spinoff focusing on senior citizens, tentatively titled Golden Years.

The news broke during a commercial break on the February 24 episode of The Bachelor, when a casting ad indicated a search for "senior citizens looking for love."

The casting notice on ABC's website goes into more details about the proposed show: "Now casting seniors looking for love! Are you entering your golden years and looking for romance? The producers of The Bachelor are looking for active and outgoing single men and women IN THEIR GOLDEN YEARS for a new exciting dating show!"

Exciting, right? Unfortunately, the show is not guaranteed. First, casting directors have to track down those "active and outgoing single men and women," and get them to apply here. Then, ABC can greenlight the show and move forward with production.

This venture is far from The Bachelor franchise's first-spinoff. Since premiering in 2002, The Bachelor has spurred shows like The Bachelorette, Bachelor Pad, Winter Games, and Bachelor in Paradise. In April, The Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart, a new musical-meets-dating show, will premiere.

However, this is the first program to focus exclusively on senior citizens—and it's about time! Senior citizens have long been a fixture of The Bachelor, popping up during the "hometown visit" episodes to provide gems of skeptical commentary. Now's their chance to have soaring romantic moments caught on camera, too.

The spin-off appears to be part of The Bachelor franchise's efforts to be more inclusive. Until recent years, The Bachelor's notoriously narrow casting was effectively limited to attractive, young white people. In 2017, Rachel Lindsay broke barriers as the first Black Bachelorette, and seasons have been consistently more diverse ever since (but just as attractive).

Still, even with those changes, The Bachelor's dating pool is hardly representative of all the singles in the U.S. As in, not all single people are both camera-ready and right out of college.

The ad caused many Bachelor viewers to think about theirs loved ones who are eligible for the show.

There's reason to think this spin-off will be reality TV gold. In 2019, the Netflix original, Dating Around, proved that a senior-centric dating program has major potential. The show featured six New Yorkers going on a series of dinner dates with strangers.

Among the six singles was Leonard, an elderly widower with a crinkly smile and interested eyes. He became a quick fan favorite.

Over the course of five evenings, Leonard and his dates had deep conversations about their long lives. The dates also touched on the realities of aging—one woman mentioned she liked eating at 6 p.m., because she prefers to have her dentures out by 8.

Currently, two of the The Bachelor's front-runners are 23-years-old at the prow of their independent lives. Youth comes with its own challenges—but it's time for a show featuring people in a more mature life phase, too. Love has no limits off-screen, so it shouldn't have limits on-screen, either.

For now, we'll rewatch Last Tango in Halifax, a delightful show about two high school sweethearts who reconnect as seniors, and hope for the reality TV version.

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