Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Former "ER" regular Noah Wyle reports he'll be making his feature film directorial debut in the spring.

"We raised money for a comedy called 'The Prince Test' that hopefully will start in February," says Wyle, adding at this point he has no intention of starring in the film. "I don't want to trip myself up and wear too many hats. If there's a small little cameo part that will help get us distribution, then I'm not opposed to it. But at the moment I'm planning on casting all my friends who I've done favors for all these years … call out my markers and get them all in. We don't have much money to work with so we're trying to get the script to the place where that'll be what everybody's attracted to."

Wyle says "The Prince Test" is about a woman who runs a company that will find out if your true love is true. "If you're about to get married to a man and you wonder if he's your Prince Charming, you can hire this woman and she will try to seduce your fiance and put him to 'The Prince Test.'" Unfortunately, says Wyle, the film's protagonist fails the test. "Then he has to get his woman back and also try to get retribution on the woman who ruined his relationship. It's sort of your 'Boy loves girl. Boy loses girl. Boy fights to get girl back and actually ends up falling in love with somebody else' story.'" Got that? Good.

GETTING NAUGHTY: Lori Loughlin says ABC's new sitcom, "In Case of Emergency," debuting Jan. 3, pushes the envelope further than any show she's ever been on — and that's OK with her. The actress, best known to TV audiences for her roles in "Full House" and "Summerland," says, "I wanted to take a chance because I work with children so often and I'm so well-known for having been on a long-running family show. This is appealing to me because I got to break out of my box and do something different."

Loughlin plays a self-assured doctor who is the object of David Arquette's affections on the show that also stars Jonathan Silverman, Greg Germann and Kelly Hu as a group of former high school friends whose lives have pretty much hit rock bottom. Hijinks include a botched suicide attempt, a visit to a massage parlor where Silverman's character goes to get anything but a massage, and a bakery truck hijacked by a diet guru — and that's just the first episode.

"It just gets crazier," says Loughlin, adding she couldn't believe herself how far out the show gets in the 13 episodes they've shot. "With my conservative little self, I would go to producers every week and say, 'How can you get away with this on television?' I was shocked. But that's why we're on at 9:30. It's not intended for children."

ALSO: Bob Saget couldn't be happier that "Happy Feet" has emerged as such a gargantuan hit, and that "everyone is talking about it." That's because the comic-actor-"1 vs. 100" host has "Farce of the Penguins" up his sleeve for DVD release next month. "I was watching 'March of the Penguins' at a friend's house, and seeing the humor everywhere. You can't help but equate it to human beings," says Bob. He started supplying voiceover dialogue for the Antarctic birds, and pretty soon a comedy idea was hatched.

"We took 200 hours of stock nature footage and 'What's Up, Tiger Lilied' it up," he reports, referring to Woody Allen's 1966 comedy that replaced dialogue in a Japanese spy movie with off-the-wall stuff all his own. Saget and fellow producer David Permut have 60 celebs providing penguin voices for the venture, including Dane Cook, Carlos Mencia, Jim Woods, Mo'Nique, Jim Belushi, Lewis Black and Whoopi Goldberg. In fact, Saget, John Stamos and Dave Coulier reunite — in a way — in "Farce of the Penguins." The former "Full House" cast mates voice a segment in which three penguins are seen ambling along, "talking about the environmental movement and worrying about the ice melting."

But it isn't a movie for the kiddies. "We're R-rated," notes Saget.

RESOLVING: Now that 2007 is around the corner, David James Elliot says it's got him thinking more about the future. "I have people ask me what I want to do. I just want, when people look back, for them to go, 'That guy was a solid actor.' I just keep pushing that," the "Close to Home" and former "Jag" star tells us. "I read the books. I still study. I work with a coach. I just keep trying to learn and try to get a little better. I'm going to keep challenging myself and not fall flat on my face."

(With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster)

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2006 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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