Hollywood isn’t just changing—it’s culturally recalibrating. Behind the glitz and glamor of red carpets and studio premieres, a new wave is sweeping through the entertainment industry. It’s not driven by flashy CGI or prestige Oscar bait, but by something far simpler: traditional values. Welcome to the rise of Conservative Hollywood—an evolving entertainment landscape where stay-at-home moms, cowboy hats, and Bible-quoting reality shows are no longer punchlines but primetime.
Reality TV is leading the charge. On Fox’s Farmer Wants a Wife, women from Malibu to Nashville aren’t looking to party—they’re looking to marry, raise families, and settle into a rural, values-first life.
One contestant, 22-year-old Julia, handed her potential suitor a framed bikini photo of herself in a cowboy hat—her cheeky way of saying she’d play the part, even if she refused to shovel cow manure. Grace, 23, dreams of becoming a stay-at-home mom with four kids. Jordyn, 29, a country singer from Tennessee, said she’d move cross-country for the right man.
While politics are never spoken aloud on the show, the underlying message is clear: marriage, family, faith. These women are part of a growing genre reshaping mainstream entertainment.
“More conservative projects are getting greenlit,” says Colin Whelan, a former TLC executive and founder of Conveyor Media. “People are pitching more shows like that because they realize that’s what’s selling.”
Tim Allen performs stand up comedy – Photo Credit: Mark Ridley, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
The data backs him up. Shifting Gears, Tim Allen’s grumpy-widower sitcom steeped in old-school masculinity, has been outperforming the more progressive sitcoms it’s scheduled against.
According to ScreenRant, it averages “more live viewers on average than The Conners season 7 and Abbott Elementary season 4,” with 3.7 million tuning in for the finale. Farmer Wants a Wife is no slouch either, consistently pulling 1.5 million viewers per episode—acting as clean, values-driven counterprogramming to Netflix’s Temptation Island or Too Hot to Handle.
And then there’s Truth+, the streaming platform launched by Trump Media and Technology Group in 2024, which pledged to prioritize “news, Christian content, and family-friendly programming that is uncancelable by Big Tech.”
Donald Trump speaks at a rally the night before being inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States of America – YouTube, Washington Post
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Hollywood itself is shrinking. FilmLA reported a 30% decline in production in Los Angeles for Q1 of 2025. Writers are finding it harder to sell scripts. Studios are releasing fewer movies. Yet in this environment, family-friendly, pro-American, and anti-woke content is getting a second look.
The resurgence of Duck Dynasty this summer is a case in point—coming back just as its producer Rob Worsoff is pitching a DHS-partnered reality show where immigrants “compete to prove they are the most American,” reportedly including challenges like gold mining and building Model T cars.
Even CBS Studios is getting in on the act with a reboot of 7th Heaven, a show about a Protestant minister raising seven kids, this time with what they call a “diverse family,” though the exact details remain unclear. The original star, Jessica Biel, is producing alongside faith-based filmmaker DeVon Franklin.
Yellowstone” premieres Wednesday, June 20 on Paramount Network. Kevin Costner stars as John Dutton – Licensed, Paramount Network Press Center
But not everyone is thrilled by this recalibration.
“What’s happening is a ‘cultural recalibration,’” says Carri Twigg, head of development at Culture House. “The recalibration has led to a ‘generalized chill’ in the industry that has caused more diverse projects to suffer.”
Twigg says she’s heard from colleagues that content “perceived as too progressive” is being quietly shelved. Even “projects with mild inclusivity are getting flagged in internal discussions,” with executives who once praised these ideas now calling them “too niche” or “not resonant right now.”
The view count and dislike ratio for the second trailer for Disney‘s live action Snow White starring Rachel Zegler – YouTube, Disney
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She points to two main drivers: politics and fear.
“The political climate has emboldened executives who were always uncomfortable with the industry’s post-2020 shifts,” Twigg says. “The power that DEI-era storytelling offered to historically excluded creators was unfamiliar, and in some corners, unwelcome.” The second, she says, is fear of reprisals from the administration.
And those reprisals might not be just theoretical. In February, FCC chair Brendan Carr opened a probe into Comcast and later Disney, pledging to investigate “any programs that promote invidious forms of DEI discrimination.” Carr has also hinted that the FCC may intervene in network agreements to “constrain some of the power of national programmers.” Since then, according to Variety, major studios like Disney, Amazon, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery have all quietly scaled back their diversity initiatives.
Halle Bailey as Ariel in Disney’s live-action THE LITTLE MERMAID. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2023 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Even The View, the reliably left-wing morning talk show, has reportedly been pressured to tone things down. ABC News president Almin Karamehmedovic urged hosts like Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar to “broaden its conversations beyond its predominant focus on politics,” according to The Daily Beast. Disney CEO Bob Iger also reportedly advised the panel to reduce the volume on political rhetoric.
Not everyone sees these moves as strategic.
One unnamed former executive at Amazon MGM Studios told WIRED, “It’s just the rhetoric they’re using to articulate what they really believe and who they really are,” suggesting that the anti-DEI push is more about ideology than pragmatism.
Twigg warns of long-term consequences. “If the industry starts backing away from inclusive storytelling, it won’t just be regressive—it’ll be a bad business decision.” She notes that half of Gen Z identifies as non-White and nearly 30% identify with non-traditional romantic orientations. “These audiences aren’t just asking for representation—they expect it.”
(L-R): Osha Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) and the Stranger in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+.
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But Twigg’s warning skips over a crucial reality: Gen Z’s preferences aren’t as monolithic—or as progressive—as Hollywood assumes.
Yes, this generation is more racially diverse and open about personal identity than previous ones. But that doesn’t mean they automatically embrace every project labeled “inclusive.” In fact, younger audiences are increasingly skeptical of institutional narratives altogether.
Recently, the 2024 Harvard Youth Poll (conducted in early 2024 during the Biden adminstration) revealed that only 9% of Americans aged 18–29 believed the country was on the right track—signaling a widespread dissatisfaction with the direction of national institutions of the time, which overwhelmingly leaned liberal.
A screenshot from The Wheel of Time season 3 trailer – YouTube, Prime Video
This sentiment is reflected in shifting consumption habits: Gen Z overwhelmingly prefers decentralized, creator-driven platforms like TikTok and YouTube over legacy networks and studios. Traditional broadcast television is practically irrelevant to them, and content loyalty is determined by authenticity, not corporate virtue signals.
So while access media voices claim that representation is non-negotiable, the numbers suggest otherwise.
When younger audiences do engage with longform content, the breakout hits often aren’t driven by progressive messaging. Series like Yellowstone, The Chosen, Farmer Wants a Wife, and Shifting Gears have gained traction by focusing on traditional values, family dynamics, or heartland themes—offering a stark contrast to the activist-heavy storytelling (Snow White, The Little Mermaid, The Wheel of Time, The Acolyte) that defined much of the last decade.
Owain Arthur as Prince Durin IV; Sophia Nomvete as Disa in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios
While it’s unclear how much of Gen Z is watching these shows specifically, their success suggests a growing demand for content outside the usual Hollywood echo chamber.
So, Hollywood isn’t facing a crisis of representation—it’s facing a crisis of relevance. And the smarter producers are already adjusting.
Still, the content pipeline is being reshaped. Even Whelan—who once oversaw New Girls on the Block, the first reality docuseries starring a cast of people who identify with a gender that differs from their birth—admits that his latest project is a Christian reality series about a ranching family helping at-risk youth.
Hulk Hogan speaks at the RNC in support of Donald Trump – YouTube, Bloomberg Television
Whether you call it counterprogramming, a course correction, or a conservative comeback, one thing is certain: Conservative Hollywood is no longer a contradiction. It’s a reality—and one that could reshape the industry for years to come.
Do you believe that Hollywood is swinging conservative? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
