Here Comes the Judge: Michael Corbett Joins B&B as Evan Scott

Veteran daytime actor Michael Corbett, known for playing multiple bad boy roles on soaps, is joining the good guys (we think) as Judge Evan Scott on The Bold and the Beautiful. The soap hopper chatted with Soap Hub about his return to the world of daytime drama.

Michael Corbett: B&B Court Is In Session

Corbett made his daytime debut as Michael Pavel on Ryan’s Hope, who was a lothario who slept with both Rae Woodard (Louise Shaffer) and her daughter Kimberly Harris (Kelli Maroney). Next, he did a stint as unscrupulous Warren Carter on Search for Tomorrow. After that role came to an end, the actor did a brief stint as Brent Cameron on One Life to Live before he moved to the West Coast and was cast as David Kimball on The Young and the Restless.

David toiled away as Jill Abbott’s (Jess Walton) secretary before setting his sights on Jill’s widowed daughter-in-law Nina Chancellor (Tricia Cast). He planned to kill Nina and make off with her inherited millions before he apparently met his maker after accidentally activating a trash compactor in which he was hiding.

Now, Corbett is set to make his B&B debut on Friday, July 21, as a judge. Will he oversee a civil matter (Hope and Liam seem set for divorce), a criminal matter (Sheila has yet to be sentenced), or something else? “I don’t know much,” hedges Corbett about what he’ll be doing exactly on the show, but he hastens to add with a wry smile, “I know it’s going somewhere.”

Everything BOLD Is New Again

As far as being back at TV City, home to both Y&R and B&B, Corbett says, “It feels very familiar yet excitingly different at the same time. I had to remember to go right [towards B&B] instead of left [towards Y&R] when I walked down the hallway.”

Corbett’s reunited with some actors he knows and crew members who’ve worked on both soaps. “The biggest reconnection I’ve made is with Edward Scott, B&B’s supervising producer, who used to be Y&R’s executive producer,” the performer reveals. “He’s great, and I felt very comfortable on set.

“A judge is a fun role because he’s the final word. He’s the boss,” says Corbett, noting he gets to say things like “Please” and “Sit down.” “This guy is very sympathetic to the pain and chaos that’s going on. That’s very clear in the writing. He’s very empathetic. The challenge I have in my first episode is a six-page monologue. There’s a lot of technical jargon.”

Michael Corbett Has KILLER Moves

Y&R fans recall that when David attempted to get plastic surgery so he could elude the law, the surgeon pulled a fast one. Instead of making him look like David Hasselhoff — as David Kimball had suggested (an inside joke as Hasselhoff had once played Snapper Foster on Y&R) — he carved the word “KILLER” onto David’s forehead.

Not only do fans remember that story point, but so does Edward Scott. “After my first scene, Ed, who’s funny as heck, said over the loudspeaker, ‘Oh, Corbett. That was killer!’ The people who know me from Y&R [who work on B&B now] got that right away.”

Sources tell Soap Hub that it’s possible Michael Corbett may be back for more episodes after this initial stint. “One reason I said yes to taking this role is that the Bells know how to write so well,” Corbett says. “David Kimball was written so complicated, and he was always doing all this stuff. It was so fun to play him. If you’re doing a movie, you read the script, and you know your whole arc through the movie. The beauty of being on a soap opera is that you don’t know where the journey is going. I have my thoughts about where this character is — or could be — going, but I don’t know [for sure]. The writers craft a journey that is not expected.”