Bite Me is a web series created by Machinima.com and FearNet
about a trio of gamers and roommates who find themselves thrust into that immortal scenario that they've been dreaming about.
Mike is an overworked office drone who has to put up with both a Pointy-Haired Boss and his domineering girlfriend Lauren, who's constantly bugging him about moving out from his roommates and getting their own apartment. Jeff is a waiter at a fancy restaurant who is regularly served abuse by his customers, who he gets a modicum of revenge on by mixing his bodily fluids in with their food. Greg is an overweight college graduate whose degree in marketing has gotten him a job carrying a spinning sign out on the street. Together, they fight zombies... on Xbox Live.
But one night, the three of them are forced to fight zombies for real after a Craigslist ad for a new roommate brings them a most unwelcome visitor. Together with Lauren and their neighbors Devin and Shawna, they put their knowledge of zombies built up by years of games and movies to the test.
Watch the first two seasons here.
Tropes:
- A Degree in Useless: Greg's marketing degree has gotten him a job with Arrow Advertising... aka "that spinning sign company."
- Action Girl: Shawna becomes one in season 2 after Jeff teaches her how to fight with a katana.
- Faux Action Girl: Lauren. Despite being by far the most athletic of the group, she does the least actual fighting against zombies. Even in season 2, Shawna gets in a lot more zombie combat.
- Armies Are Evil: General Joseph McRuby and the Zombie War Task Force in season 2.
- Celebrity Survivor:
- In one scene, Rod Putman makes reference to a zombified Kirstie Alley going "off her diet... way off."
- The main group also runs into one Monte St. Clair, a Roger Corman-esque horror movie producer who turns out to be responsible for the Zombie Apocalypse. In order to give his new zombie movie Evilution a killer gimmick to draw in crowds, he hired someone to develop The Virus so that he could put real zombies into the movie.
- Chekhov's Gun: Both the Flare Gun and Greg's sign flipping in season 1.
- Color-Coded Characters: Mike always wears blue, Jeff wears yellow, and Greg wears red.
- Failed a Spot Check: When trying to get the zombie out of their home in the second episode, there's a very prominent katana mounted on the wall behind them. Gilligan Cut to them rushing out of the bedroom and attacking the zombie armed with an umbrella instead.
- Fun with Acronyms:
- The government's Zombie War Task Force (Z-WTF).
- Also, Mike's desk job at the Insurance Data Collection And Photographic Reference Storage And Filing Department(I.D.C.A.P.R.S.A.F.D.) .
- Gamer Chick: Shawna becomes one in season 2 after Greg introduces her to Resident Evil: Revelations.
- Henpecked Boyfriend: Lauren forces Mike to work out in order to get any. Even after the Zombie Apocalypse, she's constantly bugging him about moving out to their own home, away from Jeff and Greg.
- I Know Mortal Kombat: How Jeff, Mike, and Greg know how to fight zombies.
- Jerkass: Devin in season 1, Derrick in season 2 (initially, at least).
- In both seasons, there's Roger, the teenage asshole that Jeff, Mike, and Greg have to deal with on Xbox Live. They actually meet him in season 2, where he turns out to be General McRuby's son, and just as big an asshole in person as he is online. The ending of season 2 sets him up as the new villain, seeking revenge for Dad's death.
- Kent Brockman News: Rod Putman in season 2.
- Look Behind You: The owner of the pizzeria assumes that this is what the group is trying to do to escape from him. Wrong answer.
- Miles Gloriosus: In season 2, Derrick tries to keep Shawna from leaving him for Jeff by proving that he's the better zombie killer, and can defend her more effectively. He fails.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Season 1 ends with the main characters facing down the horde of zombies outside their house, ready to kick ass. Season 2 opens with the survivors driving off in Derrick's (formerly Devin's) Hummer, with the anticipated zombie melee depicted through a graphic novel-style animation.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Both Romero-style shamblers and 28 Days Later-style fast zombies are seen, and "jumpers" are referenced in one conversation. Jeff, Greg, and Mike also argue as to what qualifies as a zombie or not, and what movies can, therefore, be properly called "zombie films".
- Product Placement: Mainly for the Xbox 360 and for Capcom's video games (Dead Rising 2 in the first season, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City and Revelations in the second). Lauren also uses a Shake Weight as her weapon in season 1.
- Machinima.com also did cross-promotion with another zombie-related series, the MythBusters/Deadliest Warrior-esque Zombie Go Boom. Two episodes featured cast members from the show testing out some of the weapons their characters used to see if they would actually work against zombies.
- Machinima.com also did cross-promotion with another zombie-related series, the MythBusters/Deadliest Warrior-esque Zombie Go Boom. Two
- Scary Black Man: General McRuby.
- Shout-Out:
- Mike's torn clothes after fighting the zombified Lisa look almost exactly like Ash Williams'. Later on, Greg chops off his zombie-bitten hand and attaches an axe to the stump.
- On the map of targets for the Z-WTF's "Operation IV", one of the names listed is Raccoon City.
- The season 2 finale has the group battling a Captain Ersatz of Nemesis.
- Show Some Leg: Lauren breaks out of McRuby's jail cell by tempting his teenage son Roger with her cleavage.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: In season 2, the backwards-cap-wearing, Hummer-driving bro Devin is replaced by his nearly identical friend Derrick. Explained in-universe as Devin getting killed in the zombie melee at the end of season 1, and Derrick fleeing with the group from the party he and Devin were at (and taking Devin's Hummer and his girlfriend Shawna).
- We Help the Helpless: Jeff, Mike, and Greg start doing this in season 2.
- You Killed My Father: The Stinger at the end of season 2 sets up Roger as the new villain, seeking revenge for the death of his father, General McRuby.
- Roger: [puts on General McRuby's cap] I'm coming for you, ass-sniffers.
- Zombie Advocate: Shilo and his group in season 2. They get exactly what you expect to be coming to them.
- Zombie Apocalypse: Confined mainly to the Los Angeles area.
- Zombie Infectee: Brian (the Craigslist guy) and Lisa. In season 2, Greg gets infected, but he stops it from spreading by cutting off his bitten hand... and replacing it with an axe.
