This book is the result of rigours research on Television soap operas both theoretical as well as empirical. This book focuses on 'Prime time soaps' on television and analyses them as an important resouece for anthropological insights into contemporary social issues and practices. This book looks at serials not only as a source of pleasure but also its effects on daily life of a women. Various studies on influence of soaps from western and Indian scholars proved that soap poeras have greater importance to society than most other television genres. Viewer's see soap operas as a primary resource in engaging with social issues, dispite the soap operas focus upon individual personalised contexta. Keeping these key elements in mind the author in this study had tried to know how the social, cultural and economic values in soap operas are portrayed and to what extent the viewing of soap operas has been influencing the attitude and life of the women viewers in Andhrapradesh (before bifucation). The conclusions in the study were drawn based on the data emerging from the qualitative data and the survey. The study further reveals that audiences are not passive, they are critical about the content particularly the portrayal of the social-cultural values, respondents are not influenced by the portrayal but a perception shared by a section is that there is a likihood of some people being influenced by such portrayal.

This book is essential reading for the students and scholars of Mass Media, Sociology courses and form the media industry Television programme producers, Television chennel content writers and developers.