The odd thing is, as I watched a lot of the classic episodes it came back to me how silly many storylines were back then. Simple things that could have been answered in five minutes were dragged out over two years and underneath a microscope, a lot of famous storylines don't always hold up under scrutiny. In fact, it is more impressive when stories do hold up over time, when it isn't just the figment of a nostalgic soap fan's imagination.
So what is it about the classic episodes that seem so different, that seem better? Well there are a lot of things, a different budget for starters. There is also the difference in the writers, difference in the target audience. Computers and cell phones definitely change how people used to interact and then there are the little things that soaps used to do that they don't do anymore. What do I mean by little things? They can range from small moments of humor to unnecessary but entertaining scenes of emotional development to people talking on the phone when it has nothing to do with the story.
One of my favorite recent examples of this was a couple of years ago on As the World Turns when Barbara lied on the stand accusing Craig of setting the fire and bared her badly burned face as she lost control of her emotions. While the scene was definitely played for dramatic impact and shock value, what really hit home was when Barbara returned to the hospital and was ambushed by paparazzi posing as hospital staff. A shaken and raw Barbara regretted ever setting foot out of that hospital room. What made that scene so special was that it was completely unnecessary, in fact for all I know it may have been filler thrown in. But in those two minutes we got better insight to what Barbara was going through then with the entire camp behavior in court. The scene also dealt with something so realistically that many shows barely even deal with. As a supposed fashion mogul, it made sense that paparazzi would do whatever it took to get a shot of her damaged face. Those small touches made that scene the most powerful of the entire story IMO.
