Who needs new TV shows?

If you're like me, you're sick of this writer's strike. You're not a couch potato, but you do enjoy watching a few shows each week. The good ones (Lost, The Office, 30 Rock, and a few others).

But who needs TV in the age of the internet? Here's a look at some web-based alternatives to television that will quench your thirst for serialized narratives until the tube bounces back.

1. Nowheremen

On June 22, 2002 Derek Border went missing. Over the last few months, clues regarding his disappearance have started popping up online. This is the premise behind Nowheremen, a high-tech "Social Reality Game" that you can play/watch for free online.

Looks pretty cool so far - something to do with synthetic eyes, the future of surveillance, murdered scientists, kidnapped alumni, a giant data center where Derek is trapped. And Derek's girlfriend is still holding onto hope that he's alive.

Have fun: www.nowheremen.net

2. Sanctuary

This one's purely a web-based fantasy television show that you can download for a couple bucks per episode. From the previews, it looks like a cross between Underworld and The X-Files, and was just entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest budgeted series ever produced for the web.

Could be interesting: www.sanctuaryforall.com

3. Stranger Things

Considerably lower-budgeted than the previous two, Stranger Things describes itself as " a world of ordinary people stumbling into the secret lives of the paranormal, the metaphysical, the unnatural, and the strange. The stories expose the bizarre and the extraordinary things happening all around us everyday, hidden behind the veil of the real world." Unlike Sanctuary, the episodes are free, but I haven't had time to download one yet.

Might be laughable, but worth a look: www.strangerthings.tv

4. Jesus People

I've watched a few short episodes of this mockumentary, and fans of The Office will love it. In fact, Meredith makes an appearance in episode 3. The story follows a group of unimaginative twenty-somethings trying to start a Christian pop group. If you can laugh at the naive characters without taking the jokes as a shot a Christianity (they aren't), you'll enjoy the show.

Have a giggle at www.jesuspeople.tv