I love the early 1966 episodes. The brooding monochrome camerawork, the atmospheric lighting, the spot-on performances from all involved--granted, Art Wallace's writing does have its banal moments (I still shake my head at that "container of coffee"), but there are some really exquisite moments in there.
And, if you don't grok just how special DS was from episode 1, check out the week from Days of our lives in 1966 and see just what a WORLD of difference there was between standard soap writing and DS!
G.