ABC Plans to Build on ‘Golden Bachelor’ Momentum With a Focus on ‘People to Root For’

“The Golden Bachelor” will close its first season with a live wedding special Thursday night, capping a renewed surge of interest for the long-running “Bachelor” franchise that ABC hopes to harness — carefully — moving forward.

Nurtured in development for four years, the spin-off became a rare juggernaut on broadcast television, drawing both loyal “Bachelor” Nation fans and new audiences young and old with 72-year-old Gerry Turner’s journey to find the second love of his life. After losing his wife of 43 years to a battle with cancer, the Midwestern grandfather immediately won over the hearts of fans alongside the 22 women in their 60s and 70s he courted.

What drove the success? Shifting the focus toward senior singles certainly piqued America’s interest. The spin-off series’ spotlight on people who seemed to show genuine interest in love rather than notoriety helped it outpace viewership and ratings for the most recent seasons of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette.”

“‘The Golden Bachelor’ proved to be a good reminder that this franchise needs to be — first and foremost — about people you root for and a sincere love story,” Rob Mills, Walt Disney Television EVP of unscripted and alternative entertainment, told TheWrap.

As Turner built compelling connections with the contestants — many of whom shared their own stories of loss and heartbreak — viewers also warmed to the friendships formed between the women, whose empowering conversations were a welcome change of pace from the gimmicks and petty fights typically featured in the “Bachelor” mansion.

The season brought just as many difficult breakups and sudden exits as its predecessors, but concluded happily with Turner’s engagement to Nist, who bonded with Turner over losing her high school sweetheart after 42 years of marriage.

Airing Turner and Nist’s nuptials live is the “cherry on top of an amazing season,” Mills said. He added that the special fits into ABC’s live-event strategy, which he notes has “become increasingly important for broadcast television.”

The special also brings back fan favorites to help with the festivities, including officiant Susan Noles and the majority of the season’s women, including Joan Vassos, Nancy Hulkower, Sandra Mason and Ellen Goltzer, among others.

ABC has certainly taken note of “Bachelor” Nation’s fondness for the show. Several of “The Golden Bachelor” contestants continue to be visible on the network beyond the season, particularly the posse made up of Noles, Hulkower, April Kirkwood and Kathy Swarts — who recently appeared in a promotional ad for veteran personality Joey Graziadei’s upcoming 28th season of “The Bachelor,” premiering Jan. 22.

A careful approach to the future

While ABC has yet to confirm either a new season of “The Golden Bachelor” or a green light for a “Golden Bachelorette,” a future iteration of some sort seems likely.

Casting for another “Golden” series was at least suggested, as the show encouraged single seniors to apply for their own chance at love while airing the Nov. 30 season finale (though the series is not currently listed on abc.com/casting).

The network says fans shouldn’t expect to see a “Golden Bachelor” spin-off on the air anytime soon. It took four years to develop the first season, Mills said, “so we will take the time we need to be thoughtful and meticulous with the same approach for any subsequent seasons.”

Still, the outpouring of love for “The Golden Bachelor” women has prompted fans to pick their own potential first “Golden Bachelorette.” Former contestants Swarts, Noles, Vassos and Mason previously told TheWrap they would be up for the gig.

But Mills warned a future season would take significant time to cast and produce. EP and co-showrunner Jason Ehrlich previously noted that a “Golden Bachelorette” would “be very different,” adding that “[We] hope that we do get the opportunity and that we get the same genuine feeling of reasonable people who are looking for love.”

Following the upcoming installment of “The Bachelor” this spring, a 21st season of “The Bachelorette” is likely to follow one lucky lady from Graziadei’s season (though ABC has yet to officially renew that spin-off). The same can be said for the “Bachelor in Paradise,” which wrapped up its ninth season last month but has not yet been renewed.

With the brakes pumped on another “Golden” season for now, it seems the “Bachelor” franchise will remain as-is with its regular rotation of “The Bachelor,” “The Bachelorette” and “Bachelor in Paradise.”

“The state of ‘Bachelor’ Nation feels very strong right now, and we are feeling we are in a good place with all iterations of the franchise,” Mills said. “The key will be to avoid oversaturation or set our producers up for failure by giving them too many hours to produce at the same high standard that they did for Gerry and Joey’s seasons.”

A hit in the ratings

“The Golden Bachelor” was a proven hit from the get-go, as its Sept. 28 series premiere courted 4.36 million viewers, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day figures, up 45% from the most recent premiere of “The Bachelor” and more than double the premiere viewership of “Bachelor in Paradise” Season 9, which debuted just after the Turner-led series.

Season 1 kept audiences engaged throughout its nine-episode run, eventually growing to 5.27 million total viewers for the penultimate fantasy suite dates episode on Nov. 16, and leaping to 6.09 million viewers for its finale. The episode marked the biggest audience for “Bachelor” show since the March 2021 season finale of “The Bachelor.” Viewership for the finale grew to 6.95 million after three days of delayed viewing on ABC — the biggest audience for any “Bachelor” series since the March 2020 finale of Peter Weber’s season of “The Bachelor.” And it secured 7.13 million viewers after a week of multi-platform viewing with Hulu.

Overall, “The Golden Bachelor” averaged 4.7 million viewers during its first season — up 57% from the average viewership of 3 million for the most recent season of “The Bachelor,” and up 97% from the average viewership of Charity Lawson’s season of “The Bachelorette,” which averaged 2.39 million viewers.

On the ratings-front, while the 0.63 premiere rating of “The Golden Bachelor” in the key broadcast demo of adults 18-49 didn’t outpace the 0.65 rating brought in by the premiere of the most recent season of “The Bachelor,” ratings for “The Golden Bachelor” reached a 0.80 rating by its finale, up from the finale of the most recent season of “The Bachelor,” which hit a 0.63 rating. The spin-off series averaged a 0.59 rating, narrowly overtaking the average 0.58 rating for the most recent season of “The Bachelor.”

Why it resonated

The season’s smashing success was a pleasant surprise for executive producers and showrunners Ehrlich, Claire Freeland and Bennett Graebner, who identified Turner and the women’s genuine nature as something viewers wanted to cheer on.

The women’s care for one another shone through in quotidian moments, like when Noles helped Nist curl her hair prior to a one-on-one date with Turner early on in the season, or when the women comforted Vassos ahead of her abrupt departure from the show to care for her daughter, who was suffering from postpartum depression.

“There’s no polish or veneer on them, and that makes them really easy to root for and get behind and become invested in the outcome of their stories,” Freeland told TheWrap in a November interview.

Armed with confidence in themselves and an exuberance to live the rest of their lives to the fullest, the contestants were unabashed in sharing their fullest selves with each other — and subsequently viewers — in a NSFW game of “Never Have I Ever,” which replaced alcohol with ice cream, and as they questioned who was to blame for the bad gas in the mansion between Edith Aguirre’s guacamole and Noles’ meatballs.

By shining a light on a generation not typically highlighted on screen, Freeland also noted the show helps normalize desires for romance and intimacy, and gives viewers hope for their own golden years.

“We’re all getting old — that’s the one thing that we all have in common,” Freeland said. “To see people who are reaching a life stage that isn’t necessarily celebrated or seen in mainstream media as it relates to romance, a desire for intimacy, connection or love stories in this way, that’s really appealing to us.”

With this fresh take on love among single seniors, Freeland noted there is a “younger group of people” sampling the show who seem to be responding.

“It is an all-inclusive program — you can watch it safely and comfortably with your parents or your kids or your grandparents,” Freeland said.

While TV ratings don’t typically measure demographic viewership for senior audiences, the showrunners noted anecdotal evidence of an uptick among older viewers. “All I know is I’m getting blown up by my mom’s friends, so something must have changed,” Graebner said.

“The Golden Wedding” airs Thursday, Jan. 4, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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