Stream It Or Skip It?

The Michelle Obama-produced Netflix series The Later Daters features a group of widowed or divorced singles in their 50s, 60s and 70s who are all looking for love. Over the course of eight episodes, these feisty, fun singles go on a series of blind dates after being coached by a dating expert to figure out what they’re looking for. Thanks to the cast’s genuinely entertaining, charming personalities, the end result is a lighthearted, silly, tender twist on dating shows.

Opening Shot: “What are you most hoping for in this crazy experience?” a producer asks the participants of the dating show. One by one, they all respond, with the general consensus being that they’re all looking for love.

The Gist: The Later Daters follows six people who, whether through divorced or the death of a spouse, have found themselves flying solo. I hesitate to say they’re “old” because some of these folks are in their 50s which seems young for this premise, but the point is, here they are, empty nesting alone, but desperate to share that nest. The first episode follows Anise, an athletic, vibrant 62 year old, Suzanne, a 63-year-old Southern charmer with big hair energy, and Nate, a divorced 56-year-old dad who lives alone in an incredibly tidy house.

Each of these daters is coached by Logan Ury, a relationship expert and author who helps them find out what they’re looking for in a mate and offers tips on how to have honest conversations or work on awkward habits or vulnerabilities. Logan gets each of them to open up about their relationship histories (Anise and Suzanne are widows, Nate is divorced), but after experiencing the loss of these relationships, each of them have found themselves closed off for various reasons.

Using Logan’s tips, each of them go on dates with strangers and open up, with varying degrees of success – actually, maybe her tips work too well, because after Suzanne goes on a date with a man named Frank and Nate meets a woman named Latreecia, it seems like their potential mates are overly enthusiastic and eager to meet again. Anise, on the other hand, struggles to find anything in common with her date, George, who initially appears a bit buttoned-up, until he starts asking her judgmental questions and saying things like “I live in Chattanooga but I f— around in Atlanta.” GEORGE, WHY ARE YOU SAYING ALL OF THIS?

Obviously, as a dating show that stretches for eight episodes, these are not the only dates that these folks will go on (and they’re only half of the main cast of the show), but already it’s clear that no matter what the age demographics of the dating pool you’re in, they’re not all winners. We get to watch the dates and their post-mortems, learn from their missteps, and keep it moving, with the hopes that eventually, someone will click into place for each of them.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Obviously the success of The Golden Bachelor and The Golden Bachelorette have helped create an audience for shows where older daters find love, allowing us to watch certain relationships bloom or, alternately, be rejected over the course of the season, a formula followed here, too.

Our Take: The Later Daters is produced by Michelle Obama, so with that name attached, you already get the sense that the vibe we’re going for is less salacious and more of an optimistic, feel-good thing. The show is well-cast, as the daters themselves, while older in years, seem incredibly vibrant and open to the process and the path that Logan lays out for them. What works so well is that we aren’t just watching on person’s quest for love, but we have six total daters to root for, and while not all of them are going to get a fairy tale ending, we’re exposed to the ups and downs of all of their journeys. Some of it is definitely cringey, especially through the lens of modern dating and current expectations, like when Suzanne’s date Frank dives in for an unexpected kiss on the lips; there’s a definite feeling that Suzanne was not enthusiastically consenting to his old-fashioned “romantic” gesture, or George’s comments about Anise’s body and uncomfortable confessions about his own dating preferences.

On the one hand, watching a slightly older generation deal with a lot of the same crap that younger people deal with is a relief, essentially proof that the dating process is arduous and uncomfortable, until the moment you find your lobster. But on the other hand, there are also huge differences facing these later daters; after experiencing so much of life, they already know what they want and, more importantly, what they don’t want, and they don’t have time to suffer fools. Add to that the fact that dating in general, and expectations are so different from when these people first started dating decades ago. (Concepts like ghosting and catfishing didn’t even exist back in those olden days and they need to be schooled in terms like that.) As with all reality shows, casting really is everything, and in this dating pool of smart, likeable singles, whose likeability appears to be genetic, as their supportive family members who appear are entertaining as well. The show is a solid entry in Netflix’s dating show category, with the main difference being every contestant’s distaste for driving at night.

Sex and Skin: None so far.

Parting Shot: After Anise goes on a particularly brutal date with a man who asks her whether she’s had work done or how many children she has by different men, she heads into the restroom where we hear her mutter, “I’m ready for this date to be over.”

Performance Worth Watching: All of the daters have someone in their life who offers color commentary about them; Nate’s ex, Jackie, Suzanne’s daughter Alison, and Anise’s daughter Dwayna are all great additions to the show. Alison is especially animated, reacting as probably any of us would at the idea of her mom having sex with someone new throughout the show.

Memorable Dialogue: “Six silver singles are about to go on a series of blind dates,” states the narrator at the top of the episode. Six silver singles! That’s pure poetry, like a lyric from “The Twelve Days of Christmas” or a special prize you win at a strip club!

Our Call: The thing that makes The Later Daters feel special isn’t so much the fact that it’s focused on an older crowd, but that, ironically, these older daters prove age ain’t nothing but a number. They’re all interesting and energized by the idea that they’re getting a new chance at love, and their optimism and humor is what sells it. STREAM IT.

Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.