TV REVIEWS : ‘Heart’ Stays Afloat in Heavy Soap

Let’s see. Your husband--an old, cold, miserly, bigoted tyrant--suddenly dies, leaving control of his large estate in the hands of your miserly, greedy, bigoted son-in-law. What’s a fragile, frumpy, downtrodden widow with a heavy Swedish accent to do?

Well, if that downtrodden widow is played by Ann-Margret, as she is in tonight’s NBC movie “Following Her Heart,” she hops on a tour bus to Nashville and, in six days, makes generous, amazingly supportive friends, has a glamorous make-over, discovers pink gin fizzes, enters a talent show, finds Mr. Right, meets her amazingly generous and supportive pen pal whose husband happens to be an attorney (the will, remember?)--and celebrates racial harmony.

And, oh, yes. She gets real spunky.

Besides Ann-Margret as the widow Ingalill--looking terrific, even in her absurd frump guise--among the stellar perpetrators of this often unintentionally funny soaper are George Segal, who veers suspiciously close to parody, Brenda Vaccaro, who has a few fun moments as the good-time gal friend with a heart of gold, and, remarkably, Oscar- and Emmy-winning director Lee Grant.

Nor should writer Merry Helm be forgotten in the excruciatingly cloying proceedings, which include such wince-making lines as country singer Travis Tritt’s talent show homage to Ingalill and pal Maise (the golden-voiced Sandra Reaves) after one of the most contrived scenes of sisterhood in TV history: “Don’t ever give up your dreams, OK? ‘Cause I think you girls have got what it takes.”

* “Following Her Heart” airs at 9 tonight on NBC (Channels 4, 36 and 39).