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So, I was in the kitchen looking at the extra crunchy peanut butter, and I'm wondering how we skipped straight from creamy to "extra" crunchy—whatever happened to just plaid old crunchy—when my wife asks me if the writers' strike means she won't get to watch any of her shows for the rest of this season. I tried to remember what shows she watches as—aside from a few exceptions—I long ago stopped pretending to have any interest at all in her TV shows so I can prove how much I love her. And thank heavens for that. I was able to stomach Party of Five when Tieraney and I first started going out, but if we were just starting to date now, Grey's Anatomy and Gossip Girl would've killed our relationship before it even started. For although I love my wife dearly, and would take a bullet for her, I won't take chick television simply to save a marriage.

However, I understand Tieraney's frustration. No more than a couple years ago, I had my hockey taken away from me by a strike most foul. I understand that emptiness, that void, that abyss so large it seems that not even a screaming Scrub from the Garden State can fill it. But do you know what? It can be filled. Quite easily, in fact. "By what? Kirk?" you may ask. "Books?"

Books? Do they even still write books? I suppose next you're going to suggest I pledge to PBS?

"Music?"

Uh...not until you can show me a clear difference between the Osmond Family and the Manson Family will I consider turning my family into a hippie music cult.

"Go outside and get some exercise?"

Now, you're just being weird.

No, if you're missing TV that much, the only thing that can replace it in convenient half hour to one hour chunks are video games. Glorious video games, which allow you to exercise your brain a little and your body even littler. They offer that excellent sense of accomplishment without making you go through the trouble of actually having to accomplish something. In fact, with the wealth of Macintosh games now available, you don't even have to turn to consoles to find a logical replacement for your programs.

And so, from now until the writers' strike ends, I'll find those logical replacements. I'll look back at the all the games I've played and reviewed so that your entertainment abyss may be filled until the writers return and we can all get back to another two hours a night of dancing celebrities and insurance selling cavemen.

To find your Macintosh game replacement, just click on your show below. More will be added soon.

• Desperate Housewives
• Grey's Anatomy
• Heroes
• Lost