DOUBLE DUTY

If you’re a Quinn Rediker fan, come Thursday you’ll have to decide which to watch: NBC’s “Days of Our Lives” or CBS’ “The Young and the Restless.” The actor will be appearing simultaneously in both soaps for three weeks--and in overlapping time slots in Los Angeles and other markets.

Rediker is ending his eight-year commitment as gigolo/con man Alex Marshall on “Days” and jumping to a three-year “Y&R;” contract to portray Rex Sterling, a street bum transformed into the man of the dreams of wealthy widow Kay Chancellor (Jeanne Cooper). His first “Y&R;” air date is Thursday; his final “Days” is July 23.

Said Rediker: “There was nothing for me to do at ‘Days’ the last few years. I also had a time-management problem. You’d come in at 6 a.m., sit around and stay till 6 p.m. Here at ‘Y&R;,’ you come in for three hours and that’s it--in and out.”

His passion, he said, is writing: He got an Oscar nomination and story credit for “Deer Hunter” and has since had six scripts optioned, though none produced.

“I went into acting to support my writing habit,” he said. And, natch: “I’d also like to direct.”