Web Series “Wolfpack of Reseda”: Drink some True Blood while driving your Kia to your job at Initech

According to the end of the first episode of  Wolfpack of Reseda, when you’re infected with lycanthropy you immediately receive enormous feathery sideburns and a brand new Kia Soul. The bemused equanimity with which protagonist Ben March accepts these seemingly arbitrary gifts sealed the deal: as soon as I’m done writing this post, I’m moving on to episode two.

Reseda is an eight-episode web series produced by Fox Digital Entertainment (and sponsored rather conspicuously by Kia). New episodes debut weekly on Myspace. They’re up to episode five, but it looks like all eight are available for purchase now via iTunes.

From the press release:

Ben March hates his life. The torture of listening to motivational speeches from the slimy head salesman at work, the depressing apartment and foul smells of his Animal Control officer roommate at home, and – most of all – the crappy car that shuttles him between the two. There seems to be no escape from his suburban despair until one night he is bitten by a mysterious creature in the woods. Could he now be a werewolf?

Suddenly he has the instincts of an alpha dog. For the first time he pushes aside the mundane to do what he really wants with his life. Forming his own “wolfpack,” Ben makes his lair in Reseda, and has the run of the Valley. But soon the threat of the murderous beast within him begins to rear its ugly head.

This show has all the elements necessary to be a painfully bad exercise in corporate sponsorship, but I’ve only just finished the first episode and I’m loving it. Tate Ellington (who plays Ben) is charming, the visuals are slick without looking like a commercial, and the dialog is sharp, with enough Office Space style moves to be referential without seeming derivative.

You can watch episode one below, and check out the show’s Myspace page for more.