The soap opera look came from the video camera which operated similar way as video playback. Although the systems run 25 or 30fps they show each frame in two interlaced fields. This meant screen was updated 50 or 60 times per second, but showing either the odd or even lines of the frame at once.
Video was recorded in similar fashion so each field was captured with half a frame offset in time to give it effective frame rate of 50 or 60fps even though this meant actual frames would look funny on noninterlaced displays.
Film was transferred to video by taking both fields from one frame or with 3:2 pull down in 60hz countries. This made the effective frame rate closer to 24 fps like it was intended to be shown in cinemas.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlaced_video
edit: added link