Five of Howie Mandel's little-known early TV roles
Howie Mandel and Rebecca Romijn attend the TNT and TBS 2013 Upfront at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan. (May 15, 2013) Credit: AP
Before he became best known as a game-show host ("Deal or No Deal") and talent-show judge ("America's Got Talent," which returns Tuesday on NBC), Howie Mandel had a varied TV career, to say the least. (Not to mention that he also had hair and no soul patch on his chin.) Here are five of Mandel's pre-"Deal," pre-"Talent" credits:
1. ST. ELSEWHERE (1982-88) -- Mandel broke through with his role as young emergency room specialist Dr. Wayne Fiscus on this critically acclaimed NBC medical drama.
2. GOOD GRIEF! (1990-91) -- In this tasteless Fox comedy, Mandel played an ex-con artist who married into a family of morticians and ran their business in a highly questionable manner.
3. BOBBY'S WORLD (1990-98) -- Mandel created this long-running animated show, which was Fox's first Saturday-morning cartoon. He also voiced the title character, a 4-year-old, and introduced (in nonanimated form) each episode.
4. AMAZING LIVE SEA MONKEYS (1992-93) -- Mandel created and starred in this live-action Saturday-morning series about an eccentric professor who enlarged three sea monkeys to human-size.
5. LOIS & CLARK: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN (1996) -- Mandel guest-starred as Mr. Mxyzptlk, the Man of Steel's impish tormentor from the fifth dimension.
