Who watches what and why? The question of viewership of contemporary Bangla soap operas Sthira Bhattacharya Soap opera is no longer the exciting new arrival that it was in the 1990s (Ghosh 74). If anything, it is Reality Television and its astonishingly varied manifestations that have occupied the centre-stage in discussions of Indian television cultures for quite some time now. But like any other popular cultural phenomenon, the genre of the soap opera has continued to evolve in ways that invite analysis of its ‘latest trends’ and the insights that these provide into their community of viewers. In this paper I would like to closely examine a few of the most recent Bengali serials broadcast on the channel Star Jalsa and try to trace the reasons why these attract certain kinds of audiences and are rejected by others keeping in mind the ‘regressiveness’ of which these soaps are often accused as well as what implications this kind of viewership has for the social imperatives driving these soaps. I shall begin by briefly describing the basic plot of two of the serials I will be concentrating on in order to familiarize the reader with the popular trends under discussion here. Compared to the earlier ‘serials’ like Ak Akasher Neeeche (Beneath a Single Sky) or more recent ones like Ekdin Protidin (One Day, Everyday) and Ekhane Akash Neel (Here the Sky is Blue), the current Jalsa serials follow a much more formulaic recipe of family drama with there being very little to differentiate one soap from the next in terms of the kind of milieu being depicted. One of the prominent tropes that have surfaced in Bengali serials in the last five years is that of the village girl who finds herself in a strange city (Kolkata) through a fortuitous marriage to the male protagonist and in the end not only adapts to the ways of city life but wins the heart of her husband (who usually has another, earlier love interest) through her ‘simple’ and ‘down-to-earth’ ways. This trope was first introduced to much public approval in Bou Katha Kao (Wife, Speak Up!) the ‘superhit’ serial that ran for almost three years, ending in January 2012. This was followed by Ishti Kutum and Bodhuboron (Welcoming the New Bride) two soaps that are both currently running on Star Jalsa and on which I will chiefly focus in this paper. Ishti Kutum – easily one of the most widely watched Bangla serials across all channels right now – revolves around the character of Bahamoni hailing from a typically picturesque Bengal village Palashboni who is forcibly married off to the protagonist Archishman by her village folks when the two get caught in a storm and spend a night in the same room. Baha is introduced to Archi’s family members in Kolkata (all key players in the narrative) as a kajer meye (someone to help with the daily chores at home), while everyone prepares for Archi’s marriage to Kamolika, to whom he had been engaged at the time of his visit to Palashboni. It is during their honeymoon that Archi, by now deeply in love with Bahamoni, reveals Baha’s true identity to Mon (Kamolika) and the marriage eventually breaks up. Archi and Baha’s wedding follows (obviously nowhere close to this breakneck speed!). The soap then