TV REVIEW : Cast Can’t Save ‘Woman With a Past’

She had it all: a loving marriage, great kids, a lucrative career, a beautiful home and the respect of the community. She also had a secret. She was a convicted felon and prison escapee. Guess what happens?

“Woman With a Past” (at 9 tonight on NBC, Channels 4, 36 and 39), though “inspired by a true story,” is yet another hankie-wringer about a woman who did wrong and must pay, pay, pay.

Pamela Reed stars as Dee Johnson, the hapless heroine. As an ignorant, desperate young woman, Dee turned to crime when her small sons were kidnaped by their abusive father. Escaping from prison, she “bettered” herself, found a good man and lived the American Dream until she was caught.

Directed by Mimi Leder, the tired script by Robert L. Freedman, Selma Thompson and Jayne Martin uses a hodgepodge of flashbacks to jump from present to past, trite dialogue and broadly telegraphed “significant” moments.

Just before the feds nab her, Dee’s husband is explaining to her young son the meaning of the word complacent : “When you’re so sure of yourself, you let your guard down and the other guys come right on in and pounce.” Dum-de-dum-dum.

Reed spends lots of unrewarding time wearing prison blues, reciting monotonous flashback lead-ins: “I knew I had to make a move,” “I always planned to tell you,” “I’d rather you heard it from me.”

Joining Reed in the bathos are a wasted cast: Dwight Schultz as the shocked second husband, Paul LeMat as a good ol’ boy with Bonnie-and-Clyde delusions and Carrie Snodgress in a small role as Dee’s sympathetic, ineffectual mother.

Richard Lineback does have chilling moments as the ex from hell, and the two expressive child actors, Adam Faraizl and Nick Stahl, give their characters credence. But not even Reed, a big talent in a delicate package, can do more than wade through the suds.