Kirstie Alley stars in Lifetime's 'Baby Sellers'
Kirstie Alley and Corale Knowles star as Carla and Alyssa Huxley in the Lifetime Original Movie "Baby Sellers," premiering at 8 p.m. ET Aug.17. Credit: Lifetime
Two familiar television faces welcomed the opportunity that one project gave them to change things up.
The fact-inspired Lifetime drama "Baby Sellers," premiering Saturday at 8 p.m., offers Kirstie Alley and Jennifer Finnigan ("Monday Mornings") chances for something different. "Cheers" and "Dancing With the Stars" alum Alley notably underplays the part of a seemingly respectable adoption agency chief with a worldwide network, her illegal supply chain for the youngsters she needs.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent portrayed by Finnigan is on to the scheme. She infiltrates the operation, and one notable scene gives the actresses a vicious face-to-face confrontation.
"I get to be the bad guy, right?" Alley asks with a knowing laugh. "I think when you're the bad guy, you think you're the good guy, or you wouldn't do what you do. You have to justify it. I think every villain thinks they're right, though they may be crazy. I don't think they know they're crazy, and that's what the danger is.
"This woman knows these kids in these Third World countries might not make it to 3 years old and that they probably will have horrible lives . . . and that's how I played it," adds Alley. "She does have a point. Yes, she's ripping babies away from their mothers, but it's a bit like going out on Hollywood Boulevard and ripping a crack baby away from its mother."
Previously a star of such other series as "Close to Home" and "Better With You," Finnigan -- a three-time Daytime Emmy winner for her tenure as Bridget Forrester on CBS' "The Bold and the Beautiful" -- enjoyed turning into a very physical action heroine for certain "Baby Sellers" sequences.
"I took karate for a couple of years," she says. "I love combat; I just get to do it so rarely. When I was working with the stunt doubles and they were teaching me the fight routines, I think they thought I was a little crazy. We'd rehearse and rehearse, and two or three hours later, I'd be like, 'Keep going!' And they were like, 'OK, you're good. You've got it.' I loved every minute, but I was a sore girl for a few days."
