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It's quite the dose of reality when Dunnellon meets L.A.
Spike TV's new reality series Raising the Roofs stars hometown boy Michael Roof Jr., now an actor in Tinseltown, and his father and uncle, who visit from Florida.
By MOISES MENDOZA
Published July 5, 2006
They're big, they're loud, and now three Dunnellon men have their own TV show. Raising the Roofs is a new Spike TV reality show anchored by onetime Dunnellon High School football star Michael Roof Jr., 29. While it may feature lots of grossout humor, the actors said there is a simple message in all of it: Just be yourself. The show includes Roof's father, Air Force veteran Michael Sr., 55, and Roof's uncle Steven, 50, who both visited Michael Jr. in Los Angeles to tape the show. The premise is simple: Michael Sr. and Steven go to the big city to hang out with Michael Jr., now an actor in Hollywood. While there, they act like the country bumpkins that they say they are. It's supposed to be a modern version of The Beverly Hillbillies. Apparently it makes for good TV. "I don't know how people are going to react, but you can't please everyone," Michael Sr. said Friday. "We ain't trying to hurt nobody." Steven and Michael Sr. said they participated mostly to help Michael Jr., who has gone from playing football in rural Florida to finding success in movies and television. The show grew out of a concept video that Michael Jr. presented to television executives. After Michael Jr.'s high school graduation in 1995, he attended the University of West Alabama before dropping out to pursue a career in show business. He has been successful, landing parts in a WB series and in movies, including Black Hawk Down and The Dukes of Hazzard. But Michael Jr. said he has never forgotten his family and his hometown. That's why he likes to come back to Florida at least a couple of times a year. He hopes to be in Dunnellon with his uncle and his father Thursday when the show premieres. And he's hoping that locals give the show a chance. People have already told him how proud they are, and many local bars will tune in when one of his shows airs to watch the local boy who made good. And while Steven and the two Michaels wait for the premiere of Raising the Roofs, they still can't get over their California experience. The Roof family is full of cutups, but none of them expected to be anything approaching famous. "It's unreal being from a small town and getting to go on a television show," Michael Sr. said. They know notoriety can have plenty of side effects, but Steven said he is hoping for one particular benefit of fame. "I'm single, and I'm looking for a woman," he said. Moises Mendoza can be reached at mmendoza@sptimes.com or 860-7337. ON TELEVISION Raising the Roofs premieres at 10:30 p.m. Thursday on Spike TV.
[Last modified July 5, 2006, 00:32:41]
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Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
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