By PATRICIA BIBBY
.c The Associated Press

NEW YORK - It's only days until the live broadcast of ''ER'' and Noah Wyle is wearing a nicotine patch. Dr. Carter sure picked a fine time to wrestle with cigarette withdrawals.

The fresh-faced Wyle had actually quit smoking a month earlier but he couldn't resist lighting up after the premiere of ''The Myth of Fingerprints,'' a film about a dysfunctional New England family also starring Blythe Danner, Roy Scheider and Julianne Moore.

It's easy to see how the cigarette seduced him: First there was a showing of the film at a Manhattan theater lined with paparazzi and fans. Then there was a glitzy party packed with the cast as well as people like Gwyneth Paltrow, Sherry Stringfield and director Ang Lee.

But Wyle didn't get to savor the heady movie star treatment long.

Within hours, he was back in Los Angeles to choreograph the ''incredible dance'' he and his ''ER'' co-stars will perform for their season debut Sept. 25. The show features a 27-room set with 14 cameras, 60 extras, 25 speaking parts and 19 trauma cases.

Some may ask why a well-respected show like ''ER'' needs to do something that has even a whiff of gimmickry to it.

''It's something that we need to do to keep our energy up for the rest of the season,'' Wyle contends.

As for what young Dr. Carter can expect for his fourth season, he'll ''try to shake the naivete,'' Wyle says. ''The next challenge for him is to see how he delegates authority.''

And Noah Wyle's next challenge looks like it will be resisting the siren song of the cigarette.

1. Why live?

Wyle: My first answer to that was, 'Why not?' My current answer to that is, 'Why live? Why live, indeed?' This was an idea that came up a couple years ago that ... would break the monotony of what we've been doing, especially now that we're in the fourth year and we've all gone on and done different projects and experienced different things. We've all had a lot time in these characters' bodies and a lot of time on that set. We've broken a few records; we've impressed a few people. And rather than get lazy and rather than accept that as the bench mark for our consistency, we continually push ourselves to do what we're supposed to do, which is entertain.

2. On a scale of one to 10, how nervous are you?

Wyle: Now I'm a six, on the day of the shoot, I'll be a 10.

3. Do you still watch the show with your mom? And since she's a registered nurse, does she get to critique the accuracy of the show?

Wyle: I watch it with her when I can. I sort of put the kibosh on her being able to critique out loud. Only if there's something horrifically wrong is she allowed to say anything now.

4. What's the most advance medical procedure you think you could do?
Wyle: I think I could administer an IV. It may take me a couple tries, I might turn somebody's arm into a pincushion in the process, but I think I'd eventually get there. And, of course, the machine we all know how to use is the defibrillator.
5. Have you picked up any bizarre medical trivia?
Wyle: I had this monologue that I had to say two years ago that I was so paranoid that would take forever in takes that I really, really committed it to memory and I can't get the damn thing out. Would you like to hear it?
5 1/2: Sure.
Wyle: `A 65-year-old male with severe peripheral vascular disease manifested by claudication of the left hand, 10 days postop from Mercy General after having an aortal bifemoral bypass. Normal postoperative course until about six hours ago when he began to experience the gradual onset lower left quadrant pain without palliative or provoking factors. BP 120 over 80. Pulse 112. Respirations 28. Upon auscultation, diminished breath sounds were noted at the base of the patient's right lung. ... Leading me to a conclusion of plural effusion, diagnosed by this radiograph, which shows fluid in the patient's right costophrenic sulcus.'