farrah fawcett

Eddie Cibrian joins 'CSI: Miami,' Farrah Fawcett passes away at 62, 'America's Got Talent' has its lowest premiere ever and more TV news.

This month we're taking a look at celebrities who did TV commercials.

Whenever you get into any profession, you have to start at the bottom. The TV business is no exception. The stars you see in prime time today probably cut their teeth working in TV commercials. Heck, some of them still do TV commercials even after they become big stars (but it's often overseas...shhhhhhhh).

After the jump, a sampling of TV commercials from years ago that star celebrities who are now household names. If you're old enough to remember these commercials, you'll probably say to yourself, "Oh yeah, I remember this ad, but I didn't realize that he was in it!"

I think we can all agree that the infamous Andy Kaufman/Jerry Lawler incident on the old Late Night with David Letterman show (where Kaufman and Lawler got into an argument and then a punch was thrown) was staged. But when it comes to another infamous incident from the show, where Crispin Glover demonstrated his kicking technique next to Letterman's head? I think that was weird and real.

The Glover interview is on Cracked's Letterman's most hilariously awkward moments list. Most of them are actually from his current CBS show. Only two of them (Glover and cartoonist Harvey Pekar) are from the old NBC show. Other awkward interviews listed (with videos) include Madonna, John McCain, and Michael Richards (with special awkward cohort, Jerry Seinfeld!).

It's tough being Tori Spelling. She's spent better than a decade living under the spotlight and having every mistake magnified. Granted, she brought a lot of it on herself, but I think she has probably taken more than her fair share. It's just so easy. But given all that, I think she gains a lot of points for being able to make fun of herself, because when you get right down to it, that's what so noTORIous is all about. Laughing at the absurdity that is her life.

I think that those years of bad press and bad jokes may have been the biggest problem that this show had. One that it faced before they ever shot a scene, and one that they were never really able to overcome. A lot of people simply dismissed the show for no other reason than it was starring Tori Spelling as herself. And that's too bad, because I'm here to tell you that they made a pretty funny sit-com.

Not sure how this story didn't catch my attention sooner: yesterday, representatives of Farrah Fawcett announced that the former Charlie's Angels star has been diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Fawcett is currently undergoing radiation treatments in preparation for surgery and chemotherapy. According to Extra, she is apparently trying to keep a normal routine, as the show documents the fact that she worked out with longtime boyfriend Ryan O'Neal on Monday. But I'm sure she's freaking out a little about what she's about to face. I sure would be.

The article goes on to point out that Fawcett was the spokesperson for the American Cancer Society in the 1980s. Her older sister died of lung cancer eight years ago.

VH1 picked up a comedy series starring Tori Spelling as a fictionalized version of herself. Previously, NBC passed on the show. It's the most expensive project VH1 has taken on but network execs say "it was a risk we were happy to take." Tori created the show because she got tired of going on auditions for parts that were all very similar to her character, Donna, on 90210, or similar to her real-life story of riches. So, she decided to embrace her real life and even poke fun at it a little. In the pilot of her new show, called So NoTORIous, Spelling moves out of her family mansion and into a condo, which happens to be next door to Farrah Fawcett. Yes, the real Farrah appears in the pilot. And so does Loni Anderson, who plays her mother. So NoTORIous premieres on VH1 on April 2.