'The It Factor,' done gone Hollywood

'The It Factor,'
done gone Hollywood

And it works, too. Better-focused second season.

By Ethan Alter

   Midway through the inaugural season of "The It Factor," Bravo’s excellent reality series about struggling actors trying to make their dreams of stardom come true, the cameras followed two of the show’s subjects as they left New York City to try their luck in sunny Los Angeles.
   The difference between the two acting communities was immediately apparent.
Everything in La-La Land seemed larger-than-life. You could tell that the recently transplanted East Coasters weren’t quite sure what to make of their new surroundings. Indeed, one returned to New York fairly quickly while the other vowed to soldier on and not get too discouraged.
   You can’t blame them for feeling skittish.
   Making sense of the weird world that is Hollywood is a difficult task for anyone, except, of course, those actors who have spent the majority of their careers there.
   That’s why "The It Factor’s" producers have stacked the show’s second season, which is based entirely in Los Angeles, with several seasoned pros in addition to the requisite fresh-faced talent.
   This new wrinkle is not as big a drawback as you might expect.
   Sure, the L.A. cast is a little more fame-obsessed than the New York group -- few of them pretend that they’re in the acting game for anything other than the cash and the recognition -- but they’re nowhere near as obnoxious as such publicity-hungry “celebrities” as Tara Reid or Ashton Kutcher.
   This season of "The It Factor," which debuts Monday at 9:30 p.m., actually improves on its predecessor in several ways.
   For one thing, the cast has been pared down from 12 subjects to a far more manageable nine. This allows the editors to linger on certain actors instead of rushing off to check out what the next one is up to.
   The first three episodes, for example, center largely on Jennifer, a model-turned-actress who also happens to be a single mother.
   Also capturing a good-sized chunk of screen time is African-American starlet LisaRaye, best known for her lead role in Ice Cube’s 1998 directorial debut, "The Players Club."
   As the show neatly points out, even though LisaRaye has had some of the career breaks Jennifer is hoping for, both women still confront many of the same problems, from the lack of good roles for actresses to the difficulties of balancing work and family.
    In addition to these two, the other standouts in the cast include Maria, a Latina actress with a Tracey Ullman-like knack for creating strong comedic characters, and Josh, a portly Southerner who fancies himself the next David Letterman.
   Decidedly less interesting are Tobey Maguire wannabe Jeremy, pop singer Krystal, and pretentious brother/sister pair Danny and Sara.
   One of the best things about the "The It Factor" in both seasons is that it doesn’t spend too much time dwelling on the actors’ private lives.
   This is a show about the business, after all, so while we do catch glimpses of the cast when they’re not auditioning or rehearsing, each performer decides how much he or she wants to reveal about themselves. This approach gives the show a spontaneity you don’t often get in reality programs like "The Real World," where the producers’ sole purpose is to get the subjects to reveal embarrassing personal information.
   But there’s always one "It Factor" subject who is willing to let the camera record things the others aren’t.
   Last year that person was Miranda, a young Canadian actress who worked as a cleaning lady in between auditions. During the course of the show, viewers watched Miranda grow progressively more distraught as auditions kept backfiring and jobs fell through at the last minute.
   Through it all, however, she never tried to mask her fears for the camera and the person behind it, whom she actually addressed directly several times. It wouldn’t be a surprise to learn that she and the cameraman still talk on a regular basis.
    This season, Jennifer appears to be taking over Miranda’s role. She freely confesses her weariness with the Hollywood system and her concerns about being a good parent in an industry that isn’t kind to single moms. Jennifer may not be the next Meryl Streep, but it’s impossible not to wish her luck in finding at least one decent part.
    With New York and Los Angeles both covered, one can only wonder which city "The It Factor" will travel to in its next season.
   Chicago, perhaps? Boston?
   Actually considering how many of its past subjects hail from Canada, don’t be surprised to see it turning up in Toronto.

-Ethan Alter is a New York writer and a regular contributor to Media Life.

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