1980s Trends

[Bright Eyes]

Well there was Ed on OLTL starting in the early 70s, so I guess he was an outlier.

[1974mdp]

I would definitely say that the "back from the dead" trend was a detriment to soaps in general, especially on shows like DAYS, where people come back from the dead with such frequency that "death" means ZERO story wise. There's no point in mourning a character, such as Abby, because you know they'll probably be back.

So, what was done for a story "shock" or to goose the ratings made the shows much harder for the audience to take seriously.

[Reverend Ruthledge]

Back from the dead stories are my most hated plot device and why I currently hate DOOL (once one of my favorite soaps). You are right that a death on DOOL means absolutely nothing anymore. 

[1974mdp]

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if DAYS had Alice Horton's personality injected into someone else to bring her back from the dead like they did with Steve and Stefano.

I don't know how any character on DAYS can take death seriously since they've seen so many people "come back" from it. Overwhelmingly, it's the worst overused plot device on that show. The runner-up is people wearing masks to create false conflict.