taiga drama
NHK's Sunday night program slot for year-long jidaigeki series.
Launched in the early days of Japanese television with the aim of creating Japan's best entertainment jidaigeki to rival movies, each Taiga Drama series is a big-budget production starring many big-name actors, considered the most prestigious among Japanese dramas. Running for around 50 episodes, each series usually focuses on one historical figure and depicts the era in depth through the life of that person, much like a roman-fleuve (thus taiga, which means "river" and so as "fleuve" in French).