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When television came to India in 1959, India’s prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru stated television was a luxury India could not afford. He believed the medium should be aimed at India’s rural population, focusing on education and development. At the time of my field research from 2002-2003, even though 70 percent of India’s population still lived in rural areas, Nehru’s vision for television had largely been forgotten as television programs were primarily set in urban middle and upper class families. This article examines the various ways in which the shift in focus from rural to urban television programming has impacted individuals living in the village of Kothariya in Rajasthan, India. After a brief history of television in India, this article shifts to television directors and producers who make mostly urban-based programming for India’s government channel, Doordarshan. This is followed by an assessment of the impact of this programming on rural individuals, looking in particular at urban behaviors and consumer desires learned through television.