The Diplomat's Allison Janney Hated One Thing About Her First Law & Order Role

"The Diplomat" star Allison Janney has made notable guest appearances in major TV shows throughout the years, including a key part on "Lost." Back in the 1990s, just a few years before "The West Wing" made her a household name, however, she appeared in two episodes of "Law & Order." But there's a particular scene during her second experience on the hit crime drama franchise that she always felt was pretty cringe.

After playing a soap opera star's secretary in "Law & Order" Season 2, Episode 12, "Star Struck," she returned for a larger role in the Season 4 finale, "Old Friends." She played Ann Madsen, the head of a baby-food company that gets mixed up with the Russian mafia. During an intense scene with Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty), Janney's character has a vulnerable moment when she realizes just how dire her predicament is, which leads to the line, "It's only baby food ... my God, how did I end up here?"

It turns out that this bit of dialogue has lived rent-free in her head ever since — and not because she loved it. "There was this one line I just thought was so awful. " Janney recalled during an interview with the Television Academy. "I just didn't want to say it."

When Allison Janney expressed that she just couldn't get herself to say the line she hated so much, her co-star stepped in with a motivating challenge. "Michael Moriarty was like, 'Well, I think a good actress could say that line,'" she shared. "I looked at him and I was like, 'Oh yeah? Alright, I'll say it, but I'm only going to say it once.'"

Despite her initial reluctance, Janney ended up delivering the line exactly as written. "I was so mad. The line was, 'Oh my God, it was only baby food ... What was I thinking?' I thought it was so melodramatic and I hated it, but I did it," she admitted. "If you ever see that episode, you can see me saying that line — you can judge for yourself whether I nailed it in the one take."

Well, as far as "Law & Order" fans are concerned, she did nail it. In a fan review of "Old Friends," IMDb user BetterTV praised Janney's "phenomenal supporting performance," describing it as "very raw, very real." Another user, TheLittleSongBird stated, "Allison Janney gives one of the season's standout guest turns in the best of ways, powerful stuff here." If you're curious to see how Janney delivered that infamous baby-food line, you can stream all 20 seasons of the original "Law & Order" series on Hulu.