Yes, it’s been a while. Work (Toronto Star work) has been as all-consuming as usual. There were holidays to get through and another bout of COVID. I’m still watching and thinking and writing about TV as much as ever. Unfortunately, I’m not sharing that here these days.

I watched “The Golden Wedding,” as I’m sure all the other Bachelor followers did. There was so much I loved about it: seeing all the Bachelor alumni who turned up, especially the Golden Bachelor cast members; Susan officiating the wedding; Kathy taking over the red carpet, which is hard to do when you’re standing next to Charity; the bachelorette party and seeing the women getting spicy with the strippers.

I sure hope all the reports that came out about Gerry being a cheap so-and-so to his last girlfriend and arguing with Theresa about a prenup were exaggerations and that the two of them will be genuinely happy. They sure seemed to be at the wedding ceremony. But yeah, not sure how much I trust this franchise, even though they did a great job with “The Golden Bachelor.”

Sounds like “Golden Bachelorette” is a thing, for real, and that runner-up Leslie Fhima will be the lead. I will be really curious to see if Chad Kultgen’s prediction on a recent episode of the Game of Roses podcast comes true, about the end of Bachelor in Paradise. If future seasons suck as much as the last one did I won’t miss it at all. But if that is the case, I suspect that Bachelor in Paradise Canada will also be officially toast and not just on hiatus, which disappoints me.

Unfortunately, I will not be recapping Joey Graziadei’s Bachelor season. My editing and writing schedule at the Star just doesn’t leave time anymore. I will be watching and likely live-tweeting though. I’m @realityeo on Twitter and I would love to tweet with y’all.

As for what else I’ve been up to, I recently wrote a story about a new CBC sitcom called “One More Time.” The creator and lead is a hard-of-hearing standup comedian named D.J. Demers. You can read about it here.

I also wrote a story in December about how some recent period dramas have been unsatisfying, namely “The Gilded Age” and “The Buccaneers.” I hate-watched the latter, to be honest. That story is here.

And just out this Saturday is my list of 12 new shows that I think are worth watching in 2024, which you can find here.

Coming up next week, I have an interview with Hamza Haq about the end of “Transplant,” which airs its series finale on Friday, and I will be writing about the Emmy Awards on Monday night.

I wish you all a happy new year. Try to stay warm and healthy.