Question: are soap operas filmed at a higher frame rate?
Answer: It's due to motion. Soap Operas use cheaper cameras that shoot in 60 FPS rather than film that is 24 FPS. Basically, you've become accustomed to the dreamlike motion of 24 FPS being interpolated for 60 Hz TVs and now attribute higher frame-rates like 48 FPS to that of a lower quality production.