TV REVIEW : ‘Holiday’ Wrapped Up in Predictability

You don’t have to be a Scrooge to choke on some made-for-TV holiday cheer. “A Holiday to Remember,” a Connie Sellecca-Randy Travis vehicle, is memorable only for its fatal flaws: a marked lack of chemistry between the stars and indigestible dialogue.

Likable, Grammy Award-winning country music star Travis, with a singing voice like warm honey, has a much less compelling screen presence. Low-key and self-conscious, he and TV celeb Sellecca are a mismatch.

It doesn’t help that Darrah Cloud’s script, based on the novel “A Christmas Love” by Kathleen Creighton, never rings true.

Successful, newly divorced West Coast therapist Carolyn (Sellecca) moves back to her hometown in South Carolina, ostensibly to work on a book and spend more time with her 13-year-old daughter, Jordy (Asia Vieira), although she spends little time doing either.

Upon her arrival, she finds Clay (Travis), the man she left at the altar years before because he would “never take a risk.” She also finds a tow-headed 10-year-old runaway (Kyle Fairlie) in her cellar, a rival for Clay’s affections (Brenda Bazinet) and a friendly eccentric (Rue McClanahan).

Will the tough-talking, adorable runaway and his dog help bring the lovers together? Will Carolyn’s daughter, completely unaffected by the divorce, offer her mother wise counsel? Will a playful chase in the snow lead to a romantic clinch? Will the runaway make an entire church congregation misty-eyed when he overcomes his Christmas cynicism and wows ‘em in the Christmas pageant? Will . . . but you get the picture.

Predictability and superficial emotions are the yuletide blue-plate special here.

* “A Holiday to Remember” airs at 9 tonight on CBS (Channel 2).