24 Guys Walk Into a Mansion...

My Take on the Golden Bachelorette

I sprawled out in my jammies, ready to roll my eyes at the Golden Bachelorette, but it wasn’t too bad for contrived reality TV romance crap. (I’m reading a book about reality TV history and wrote reviews throughout the Golden Bachelor, so I guess I’m a bit of an expert now.)

The selected men were a pretty good cross-section of the 60+ dude crowd. We had:

• The hot men (who have taken care of their bodies as they’ve aged)

• The guy who tried way too hard to impress Joan

• The sensitive fellows (who I don’t see a lot of in real life…Gerry, the first Golden Bachelor, started the entire public weeping trend)

If the program REALLY mirrored the life of a single woman >60, the other guys in the mansion might have also included:

• The painfully insecure and damaged man who talked incessantly about the past

• Someone who is texting multiple other women while on the show

• A guy who vanishes after the first night

My only criticism is that Joan doesn’t look like most post-menopausal women with four kids. Although every man was introduced along with his career (present or past), Joan is just defined as a widow. Raising her kids may have been her full-time job, but that’s no small feat.

I did cringe a bit when one suitor raced Joan while she was on a stereotypical electric scooter. (I’m observing for negative stereotypes of aging.)

So, I guess my own “golden years” will consist of weekly watching and critiquing. Reality TV is, after all, one of my escapes from reality.

Come along for the ride (and feel free to comment with your own opinions!).