American TV audiences got absolutely swept off their feet last fall with the premiere of The Golden Bachelor. It seems all anyone could talk about was widower Gerry Turner’s journey to find love again, and we all tuned in to watch him marry Theresa Nist on The Golden Wedding that aired live on ABC in January. We also all watched them hold hands on Good Morning America just three months later to announce that they were divorcing, which sparked strong reactions from fans who felt hoodwinked. Eddie Murphy was apparently among the spurned viewers, and he recently got real about his emotional reaction to the split.
Even people who don’t watch The Bachelor were all in on The Golden Bachelor, and that didn’t stop at just your average civilian TV fan. Celebrities, too, have admitted to getting sucked into Bachelor Nation, with Kris and Kendall Jenner even inviting Gerry Turner to appear on The Kardashians. Also amongst those famous fans was Eddie Murphy, and in talking to the New York Times about the shows he and his wife watch, ABC’s senior-centered reality dating show came up, as Murphy said:
Last year, I watched all of The Golden Bachelor. You know they broke up? What kind of shit is that? I watched that, I was like, ‘This is so nice, they found love in the second part of their life. This is a nice show. Bravo. Then I find out (they) broke up three months later! The same old shit.
Man, there’s nothing like the breakup of a celebrity couple to bring out the cynic in all of us — especially when we watched Gerry and Theresa fall in love in front of our very eyes. It sounds like Eddie Murphy had the same reaction as many people in Bachelor Nation (myself very much included) in feeling kind of dumb for believing these two septuagenarians had actually found the second loves of their lives in, what, six weeks?
After a season of Gerry Turner repeating that he wasn’t looking for someone he could live with, but rather the woman he couldn’t live without, it’s a little ironic that it was the couple’s apparent unwillingness to move for each other that ultimately did them in. While rumors at first suggested that Gerry had been “caught in a lie” and had never intended to move to New Jersey, contestant Susan Noles alleged it was actually Theresa Nist who changed her mind about relocating to Indiana.
Whatever the reason, I agree with Eddie Murphy that it was disappointing to see such a wholesome, hopeful season of TV end in that way so quickly. I have to wonder if he will find time in his regular TV-viewing slate — which includes Family Feud, The Masked Singer and other singing competitions — if the Coming to America star will tune in to see if Joan Vassos has better luck on the premiere season of The Golden Bachelorette.
Keep an eye on the 2024 TV schedule for that premiere date, and be sure to catch Eddie Murphy in the action/comedy Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, which can be streamed starting July 3 with a Netflix subscription.
