The Golden Bachelor finally has a premiere date. ABC announced that the latest Bachelor spinoff, focused on an older man finding love, will start airing on Thursday, September 28.
That’s right, Bachelor Nation needs to clear their Thursdays because The Golden Bachelor, starring Gerry Turner and hosted by Jesse Palmer, will air at 8 p.m. ET and lead right into Bachelor in Paradise at 9 p.m. ET. (With the exception of Charity Lawson’s suitor Brayden Bowers and Zach Shallcross’ contestant Kat Izzo, ABC hasn’t announced the cast for BiP 9.)
The switch to Thursdays comes amid the dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which have prevented Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19 (ABC’s usual Thursday night lineup) from going back into production.
The Golden Bachelor‘s official premiere date arrived alongside a new promo that shows Golden Bachelor Gerry speaking with his two adult daughters about his search for love.
“Dating on this show is going to be an altogether new experience,” the 71-year-old tells his family. “What I hope is that I can look at one of those women and know that I’ve found the right person.”
Gerry continued, “I’m thinking, ‘What are the characteristics I’m looking for? How do you like to spend your spare time? Do you like adventure? Do you like to cook?’ Like, we have such a good time in the kitchen.”
As for his ultimate hope, like any Bachelor, he’s just looking for The One. “I want to find that person that I know is the right one. I know you guys have always wanted me to be happy and that one person is out there somewhere that will do that,” he said.
The difference between Gerry and other Bachelors, however, is that he already found love once before. Gerry was married to his high school sweetheart, Toni, who died in 2017. In July, he told “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast cohosts Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt that he thinks Toni would be “very pleased” by his participation in the show.
“I have a picture of her in my walk-in closet, so every night I’m in there and I see her picture. It’s the only one now that I have in the house and in the mornings, I see her picture and you know, we talk,” he explained. “I’ll make a brief comment — or sometimes that talk is silent. But here, lately, in the last couple of months, you know, my question for her is always, ‘So, what do you think of this? Am I doing the right thing?’ And I really have strong positive feelings about it. I think she would be very happy.”
