IT WOULD BE A MIRACLE IF THE SINGING JUDDS REJOINED.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Nearly seven years after hepatitis forced Naomi Judd to retire from her singing career - and her daughter, Wynonna, went on to prove she could be a superstar on her own - Wynonna is hoping that they might reunite as the Judds for more than just a one-shot.

``It's hard to talk about. It's almost like talking about a death. But I believe in miracles, and I'm living for the miracle of my mother and I getting back together.''

Since those heady, tumultuous days, when she referred to Naomi as ``my beloved enemy,'' Wynonna has, she says, ``gone from feeling stuck to being completely in love with this woman.''

She's worked for seven years, she says, ``to separate without severing our ties. I've grown to being Wynonna Alona. Still, well, I'm hoping. I talk to her about performing together again, and she's intrigued with the idea, but says, `I'm the busiest I've ever been.' ''

Naomi's health has improved. But now, says Wynonna, Naomi is on a different journey, determined to be a witness on how to stay well, and how to be positive if you are sick. ``She's working on some incredible motivational tapes. She speaks at hospitals, is on the lecture circuit ...''

While Wynonna, who filed for divorce from husband Arch Kelley in November, is more a solo today than ever.

Mixed media

The cast of ``The Drew Carey Show'' is getting its act together and taking it on the road - at least as far as Las Vegas.

``We're going to play Caesars Palace for three days in January,'' reports ``Drew Carey'' regular Ryan Stiles. However, don't expect to see them in their character incarnations from the ABC sitcom. ``It's straight improv,'' says Stiles. ``Since about the middle of last year, we've been doing improv every week at (L.A.'s) the Improv Comedy Club. Drew asked me to do it with him, then a couple more people from the cast joined us. We usually have six or seven players at the Improv, but there'll be 10 of us in Vegas.'' Stiles, who also hosts ``Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' - which returns to the tube Dec. 9 - says for now the Vegas date is the only gig the troupe has planned outside of its weekly spots at the Improv. ``I don't really think we want to rent a bus and do a tour. We'd just get on each other's nerves. ... We're with each other enough as it is.''

Superachievers

Patricia Wettig has just finished guesting on CBS' ``L.A. Docs,'' the series on which her husband, Ken Olin, stars. In real life, Wettig's biggest role these days is that of a student. Ken reports, ``She's working on her master's degree in playwriting from Smith College in Boston. Once every six weeks, she goes to Massachusetts for a week.'' And the actress, who once co-starred with Olin on ``thirtysomething,'' now has many play projects in development, he says. Meanwhile, Olin has directed one episode of ``L.A. Docs'' this year and will direct three more. (The show now has a full-season pickup.)

All systems go

Filmmaker Mick Garris is juggling preparations for his Showtime Judith Campbell Exner movie with two other films. He's planning a remake of the 1944 Ray Milland ghost story, ``The Uninvited,'' for Universal. And he's casting for his big-screen adaptation of Stephen King's ``Desperation.''

Mad about him

Dan Castellaneta - the voice of Homer Simpson - has just completed a guesting on the Dec. 15 episode of NBC's ``Mad About You,'' in which he plays, as he puts it, ``a really obnoxious guy.'' That guy gets into the action when cousin Ira (John Pankow) finds himself in a business slump and stages a promotion at his store ``where the winner gets a new car. Except,'' explains Dan, ``Ira just rented the car. The car is supposed to be given away to the person who keeps his hand on it the longest, but Ira has a bunch of ringers taking part in the contest. He pulls a bunch of tricks to get others to take their hand off the car, but I don't fall for the tricks, and, well, I'm pretty obnoxious about winning the prize.'' Before he's through, in fact, he wreaks havoc at Buchman Sporting Goods.

With reports by Stephanie DuBois.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1) Naomi Judd

Health greatly improved

(2) Ryan Stiles

Improvs with ``Carey'' co-stars

(3) Patricia Wettig

Studying to be playwright