''Taurus Rising'' is an Australian

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

produced by the

Reg Grundy Organisation Reg Grundy Organisation (founded as Reg Grundy Enterprises, later known as both Reg Grundy Productions and Grundy Television and known informally as Grundy's) was an Australian-based multinational mass media company, primarily involved in tele ...

for the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

in 1982. Originally intended by the network to be a replacement for ''

The Sullivans ''The Sullivans'' is an Australian period drama television series produced by Crawford Productions which ran on the Nine Network from 15 November 1976 until 10 March 1983. The series tells the story of a fictional average middle-clas ...

'', the series was one of a number of attempts to provide an Australian alternative to the glossy American supersoaps ''

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

'' and ''

Dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

'' and featured two wealthy

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

-based feuding families, the Brents and the Drysdales. To this end, it represented something of a stylistic departure for Grundy's. Unlike most other Australian soap operas which were recorded on

videotape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassett ...

, ''Taurus Rising'' was shot entirely on film. Series began at 8.30pm time-slot in a 2 hr movie pilot and continued for a couple of weeks on Tuesday nights due to decline in ratings was delegated to Friday nights at 10pm by the time of the TV series finale during 1982. TV series was never screened on Nine network since the original screening. It cost $2 million to make. ''Taurus Rising'' proved to be an expensive failure after it failed to win an audience and was cancelled after 21 episodes. The series did later prove popular in international markets and was subsequently sold to American cable television, marketed as a 21-part "

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

Cast

References

* Mercardo, A., 2004, ''Super Aussie soaps''. North Melbourne: Pluto Press.

External links

* Australian television soap operas Nine Network original programming Television shows set in New South Wales 1982 Australian television series debuts 1982 Australian television series endings English-language television shows Television series produced by The Reg Grundy Organisation {{Australia-tv-prog-stub