Kutcher Sells His Older Wife Tale

Older woman shacking up with younger man -- ick.

Younger man shacking up with older woman -- yum.

According to one of the partners in Kutcher's production company, "30 Year Old Grandpa" began as a series about a mother and her daughter having babies at the same time.

"It then dawned on us that the guy's point of view on this was the comedy hook," she said. Or, maybe they realized that Ashton Kutcher pitching a sitcom about Ashton Kutcher would go over big in Hollywood and in the press.

Which it did.

And, possibly, they too had figured out that the older woman don't play so well in these May-December TV romances. Viewers think they're a little sad. Viewers do not like their sitcoms sad. If they did, they'd be watching "Joey."

Kutcher did not even invent the whole pitching-a-series-about-a-May-December-romance-that-bears-an-uncanny-resemblance-to-your-personal-life thing.

ABC fell for that one several years ago. It was called "Then Came You."

That show focused on a pretty 33-year-old book editor and divorcee who moves into a swanky hotel, also in Chicago (coincidence? I think not), where she takes up with one of the 22-year-old waiters who brings her room service, if you know what I mean. It was scrubbed after six weeks.

"Then Came You" was based on the personal experience of Betsy Thomas, one of the show's creators and co-executive producers. After her divorce, Thomas had moved into the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles and had an affair with her room-service waiter.

Oh, and by the way, "30 Year Old Grandpa" is not the only show in which we will be subjected to Kutcher working through his newly discovered younger/older-folks-hooking-up thing.

His production company also has sold, to WB network, a reality series called "Fountain of Youth." It's like the CBS reality series "Amazing Race." Only each team will consist of a college student paired with a senior citizen.