[1] The show was initially pitched by production company Beyond International, as a straightforward drama revolving around a middle-class family whose lives are transformed when they win $3 million in the lottery.
Later episodes diverged considerably from the show's original premise, with increasingly bizarre plots involving man-eating plants, devil worshippers and neo-Nazi cults.
With the exception of The Flying Doctors (1986–1993), the Nine Network had suffered a solid decade of soap opera flops that had failed to build an audience, including Taurus Rising (1982), Waterloo Station (1983), Starting Out (1983), Kings (1983), Possession (1985) and Prime Time (1986).
John Sheerin and Brenda Addie (replacing Diane Craig from the pilot) starred as Dan and Barbara Taylor, who won the lottery and begin sharing their wealth with their children, friends, parents and siblings.
In a contentious bid to try and help ensure the program's success, network executives requested sex scenes and other risqué elements to be added to the series, which creator Lynn Bayonas was initially opposed to.
Early storylines included the return of Eddie Reynolds (Dennis Miller), Connie's estranged husband, which ends in his murder; the breakdown of Jack and Sarah's marriage, which leads to Sarah seducing her sexually confused nephew, Chris, causing a family scandal; police constable Philippa's illicit relationship with bent cop Geoff Bradbury (Gary Day) and his subsequent murder; her new house mate, eco-warrior, Charlie Gibson (Kimberley Davenport), who becomes pregnant to either Alex or Ben.
Guest actors were hired in short, provocative story arcs, including Lynda Stoner, Kate Fitzpatrick, Christine Harris, Tiffany Lamb, Liz Burch, Neill Gladwin and Briony Behets[6] in an aggressive attempt to boost the ratings further.
The sexual elements now involving bondage and lesbianism[7] often in a mystical or fantastical setting, provoked considerable controversy among conservative viewers, with some television watchdogs attacking the show as "teleporn".
[7] When Chances returned for its second season on 26 February 1992 at episode 79, only six of the original cast members remained; Barbara, Dan, Jack, Bill, Sharon, and Alex, who became the show's top-billed star with most storylines revolving around him and the intrigues of his new advertising agency, Inspirations.
Several new actors were brought into the regular cast, including Molly Brumm as the devious party girl Stephanie Ryan, Gerard Sont as pool boy and jewel thief Cal Lawrence, Ciri Thompson as the manipulative Imogen Lander, Karen Richards as photographer Madeline Wolf, Abigail as television sex expert Bambi Chute, Laurence Mah as mobster Bogart Lo, Katherine Li as Lilly Lo, Stephen Whittaker as advertising agent Sean Beckett, Danielle Fairclough as the ditzy Wanda Starcross.
By this stage, the storyline straddled a fine line between reality and fantasy, however with the departures of Dan and Barbara in episode 111, the show went completely off the rails with episodes involving man-eating plants, devil worshippers, Israeli secret agents, ghosts, laser-wielding vampires, Asian Triads, a scantily-clad angel on a Harley Davidson motorcycle, and neo-Nazis hunting valuable Third Reich artifacts (in Melbourne).