Attention Bachelor Nation: Getting older means getting better.

At least that seems to be the takeaway after just one episode of ABC’s senior love-match series The Golden Bachelor, which managed to pack more appeal into one hour of television than the rest of the franchise has done in years.

Maybe ever.

And viewers who’ve long been weary of the same old (young) thing on reality TV are already clamoring for more.

Love isn’t just a young person’s game, despite what reality TV has been telling and showing viewers since its inception.

Sure, the average 20-something looking for love on the small screen might have an interesting dating history, a hopeful outlook about finding “the one” and an inclination to bridge the gap with plenty of drummed-up Fantasy Suite drama. But when comes to compelling storytelling, they’ve got nothing on a septuagenarian who’s lived a life of incredible highs and lows, who already knows what it’s like to find “the one” and, sadly, knows what it’s like to lose her.

Gerry Turner, the inaugural Golden Bachelor, isn’t looking for his first love on this series. Following the death of his wife of 43 years, the 72-year-old father and grandfather is looking for his last love, someone to navigate the rest of his life with.

And as he proved in the series premiere, it’s impossible not to root for him.

Before Gerry met the 22 women vying for his affections, the show got off to a poignant start as the leading man got ready in silence. It wasn’t until he put his hearing aids in that Cat Stevens’ “The Wind” became the soundtrack to his introduction.

From there, a montage of happy photos from his life with his late wife, Toni, flashed on the screen, and then he shared how their chapter came to an end.

“We had a plan,” he recalled. “We had an idea of what our dream house was going to be. So when Toni retired, the end of May in 2017, we bought that dream house; closed on it on June 6th. From June 6th on, it didn’t go according to plan at all.”

Through tears—his own, but no doubt viewers were weeping right along with him—Gerry recalled how Toni, his high school sweetheart, suddenly fell ill with a bacterial infection and died the following month.

Heartbreaking.

And just like that, three minutes into the series, finding another companion for Gerry, or frankly anything that would bring him joy again, truly mattered.

Of course, Gerry isn’t the only one looking for love.

An assortment of women in their 60s and 70s arrived at Bachelor mansion with their own backstories, and thankfully, some of them brought some much-needed levity to the episode.

Among the standouts:

Unfortunately, four women ended the first episode without roses, including 70-year-old Patty, mother of former Bachelor Matt James.

But their shot with Gerry wasn’t the only thing that was over too soon, Thursday night.

While The Bachelor franchise routinely airs two-hour episodes, The Golden Bachelor is just one-hour long—and it’s not nearly enough, as fans who fell hard for the show were left wanting more.

Including more potential partners.

More wisdom from the contestants.

And just more Golden Bachelor.