Twitter Is Having A Field Day With TLC’s New Dating Show MILF Manor

Once upon a time, TLC touted a wholesome offering of reality TV that included home design shows like Trading Spaces and the addictive wedding dress shopping romp that is Say Yes To The Dress. The acronyn TLC even stood for something very ambitious and educational: “The Learning Channel.” Fast forward to 2022 when the network boasts more provocative shows like Love After Lockup and 90 Day Fiancé on their once-tame lineup. Suffice it to say: it’s a little unclear exactly what is going down at TLC these days. One thing is for sure — they’re looking to stir up some watercooler conversation. And that they did as the network recently took to social media to stoke the curiosity (and disbelief) of TV-watchers with their announcement of a new show that is raising quite a few eyebrows with MILF Manor. And boy did Twitter have a lot to say about this cougar-centric reality show.

It all went down online on Wednesday when #MILFManor was suddenly trending and then set off a firestorm of snarky responses. “Welcome to #MILFManor! Eight hot moms leave home for the chance to find love with men half their age, but they're greeted with a shocking twist. The new series premieres January 15th at 10/9c on @TLC,” the network tweeted.

One of the first things that people took umbrage with? This crazy idea has already been done. Albeit it was a satirical bit on Tina Fey’s beloved sitcom 30 Rock when it appeared AS A JOKE as a fake show called MILF Island with the funny tagline: “20 MILFS. 50 eighth grade boys. No rules.”

But now that it looks like life is actually imitating art with this hot mess of a dating show, folks certainly have some feelings:

There’s also been a few salutes to the “Original MILF” Jennifer Coolidge and her character Tanya McQuoid on White Lotus, who might make for the perfect contestant on this type of show (although technically Tanya has not shared that she has any children).

And in addition to some visceral reactions to MILF Manor, there’s also quite a bit of buzz for what this “shocking twist” could possibly be? Of course, there’s the gross-yet-obvious possibility that the MILFs’ sons are invited to the manor to be pawed by the other cougars:

Or this hilarious twist hypothesis:

Or yet another theory which is actually the most unexpected in the context of this salacious genre of television:

Older men dating age-appropriate women? Now that would truly make for shocking TV.