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By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 2, 2006

Vocal cord injury hampers Simpson's attempt to sing

Jessica Simpson sang for the first time since injuring a vocal cord a week ago, but only made it through one song before her voice cracked.

Simpson croaked her way through I Belong to Me on NBC's Today show Friday morning, but when it came time to hit a high note on With You, her voice cracked. She paused for a moment and said, "All right, I tried that one," before finishing the tune.

"That had to be the most nerve-racking thing you've ever done in your life," said Today co-host Matt Lauer.

The 26-year-old singer tried to soothe her voice with a concoction that Lauer described as "gnarly looking." Simpson said her vocal coach had made the "nasty" mixture.

"I busted a blood vessel in my vocal cord," she told Lauer.

CW to offer some show premieres early online

The CW has set its official launch date for Sept. 20. But thanks to the wonders of the Internet, you'll be able to see one of the new network's shows a couple of days before that.

The network has teamed up with Microsoft to offer streaming video of three CW shows on MSN a week before their broadcast premiere, in what's becoming standard practice for the broadcast networks. All three shows - new drama Runaway and returnees Veronica Mars and Everybody Hates Chris - will stream commercial-free.

In a separate deal, the CW is setting up a hub on the giant social-networking site MySpace. The hub will feature video clips from CW series along with the friend-accumulating features that have made the site such a phenomenon.

With the MSN deal, all three shows will be available for viewing seven days before their on-air debut. That means Runaway will be up first, on Sept. 18. Chris will go up on MSN on Sept. 24, and the third-season premiere of Veronica Mars will follow on Sept. 26.

[Last modified September 2, 2006, 01:38:40]