Flav stars in MyNetworkTV's first sitcom

Singer Flavor Flav performs with the band Public Enemy during the ''Rock The Bells'' Festival in New York July 28, 2007.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - MyNetworkTV is returning to the scripted arena with a new half-hour comedy series starring rap artist and reality-TV star Flavor Flav.

The network has ordered 13 episodes of "Under One Roof," a show that network president Greg Meidel describes as "a classic fish-out-of-water story."

Flav plays Calvester Hill, a former convict who moves in with his wealthy, conservative brother, Walter (Kelly Perine). Calvester turns the Hill family's life upside down, parading his old prison cronies through the house, teaching his nephew to be a gangsta rapper and butting heads with Walter's snooty wife.

"Roof" is directed by Brian Roberts and written by Danielle Quarles and Gelila Asres, non-Writers Guild of America writers. The show is in production in Toronto for a spring debut.

Flav, who was a founding member of hip-hop group Public Enemy, has starred in the reality series "The Surreal Life," "Strange Love" and "Flavor of Love."

MyNetworkTV launched in September 2006 with a lineup comprising only scripted drama strips but abandoned that format last year in favor of reality shows and theatrical acquisitions. "Roof" marks the network's first scripted sitcom.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter