Way back on Nov. 5, 2007, the Writers Guild of America began its strike against television studios and shook up my world. Immediately, my favorite shows (and thus, my life) were in danger. “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” went straight into reruns. “Heroes” was cut short, and the seventh season of “24″ was delayed indefinitely. “Boston Legal” disappeared from the airwaves, and the penultimate season of “Smallville” was in danger.

I was lost. What was I supposed to do if I couldn’t watch these shows every night? No, I didn’t start exercising or reading. I instead replaced my shows with a whole new set of programs and other perfectly unhealthy activities.

I couldn’t bring myself to not watch television-strike or no strike. I turned to politics. I began to watch endless hours of political coverage on MSNBC, CNN and yes, even FOX News. It got to the point where I not only knew all of the pundits, commentators and journalists on all the networks by name, but I also knew who they worked for and what their opinions were before they gave them. (Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post who appears on MSNBC is a personal favorite.) With the Writers Guild on strike, my TiVo had very little to do, so I actually subscribed for a Season Pass to “Hardball with Chris Matthews.” (I think I may be one of four people who watch that show daily-and sometimes more often than that.)

But even Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Wolf Blitzer couldn’t fill the void that the writers’ strike had left. I drifted toward my computer, spending more and more time staring at the screen. I may have fully exhausted all the internet has to offer. I’ve lost track on how many games of computer solitaire I’ve played. I started to play Tetris online for hours on end, constantly trying to beat my highest score, and when I couldn’t do it, I threw things around my room in a mad rage. I soon got my roommate hooked and we have spent the past few weeks in a Tetris-hypnosis. That simple, entertaining, yet annoying game took over my brain. Throughout the day and even as I tried to sleep, I saw Tetris pieces fitting together in my head. It was a living nightmare. Do yourself a favor and stay away from freetetris.org at all costs.

What I’ve done in absence of new scripts coming out of Hollywood hasn’t been entirely detrimental, though. News of Dr. Drew’s appearance tonight reminded me of how much I loved listening to Loveline on the radio years ago when Adam Carolla co-hosted. I found a Web site which has almost every show from the era available for download (lovelinearchive.com) and have spent quite some time downloading and listening to the shows. My understandings of sexual dysfunction, the harmful effects of drug use and how Adam Carolla became “a literal millionaire” have increased tenfold.

This week, however, great news came. After 100 days of wandering around my television dial, the writers’ strike has come to an end. Finally, I’ll be able to see what happens between Clark Kent and Brainiac on Smallville and just what Alan Shore and Denny Crane will do next on Boston Legal. Finally, I’m getting my life back. I’ve gone cold turkey on Tetris and have done well since going through withdrawal (though, I’ll admit that I played a couple games of solitaire before writing this column). I’ve missed a couple days’ worth of Hardball and haven’t heard Wolf Blitzer’s blabbering in a long time. Finally, the television studios pulled through, and finally, I can have a life again. My TiVo and I are very happy.

Altin is a senior in Arts & Sciences and a Forum editor. He can be reached via e-mail at forum@studlife.com.

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