Justin Hartley Talks 1983 Y&R With Kelly and Mark

Justin Hartley went to New York City to promote his new CBS series Tracker. While on Live with Kelly and Mark, the soap veteran was asked about his days in daytime drama, both as Fox on Passions, and Adam on Young and the Restless. News personality Steve Patterson was subbing for Mark Consuelos.

From Harmony to Genoa City

During Hartley’s interview, news personality Steve Patterson, who was filling in for Mark Consuelos, explained to the former Fox Crane that he used to watch him on Passions because “I used to watch DAYS and so Passions would come on right after…”. Soap opera champion Kelly Ripa (ex-Hayley, All My Children) playfully chided Patterson, “You don’t have to qualify it — you can just say you watched Passions.”

Asked about the craziest storyline he can remember being involved in from his soap opera days, Hartley replied with a smile, “I’ve had several.”

The former TV Newman heir explained that his Adam was introduced to the show as having had plastic surgery to distinguish his looks from Michael Muhney’s, the show’s previous Adam (read about his controversial exit here). “‘Oh, let’s wrap his head in a thing and do whole plastic surgery thing.'”

Ripa, who’s seen quite a few shocking soap twists over the years, offered, “I actually think that’s a very plausible storyline.” The fan favorite went on to say that she recalls having to remember a tremendous amount of dialogue from her daytime days, revealing that she had scripts hidden everywhere where she’d have easy access to them in between scenes. She asked Justin Hartley if he had any tricks to mastering that task?

What About Brian?

“We had a guy, [who is] still on the show, Eric Braeden, he’s on Young and the Restless [as Victor],” Hartley recalls. “He’s a legend, and he was sitting in his desk — that he always sits in — and we’re going over lines. He’s reading his script, and we all have our scripts out and he’s starts reading his lines and he goes, ‘I’m talking to Brian. Where’s Brian?’

“Everyone was like, ‘Who the hell is he talking about?'” Hartley shared. “And he’s like ‘Brian — it’s says Brian right here.'” Then, we realized he had pulled out a script [from his desk] from like 1983 or something. It’s unbelievable.”

“Once you stuff the scripts in the sofa folds, they are there forever,” Ripa shared.