I suppose I should lead with some witty play on words, considering the name of the show is "Life" and all. I could say that "Life" is going into hibernation, maybe, or that the show could use a little "life support".

But it's not a laughing matter. It never is, when you're talking about a fan's favorite show, and it's in danger of cancellation. Just ask the "Jericho" fans.

And "Life" really is a great show. But it's a new show, and unlike some other new offerings (I'm looking right at you, "Private Practice"), it doesn't have a built-in audience. And it looks more and more like "Life" has a pretty weak lead-in program in the low-rated "Bionic Woman".

While there IS hope for "Life" (more on that in a bit), the more immediate situation is the following - with the ongoing writer's strike, it appears not only that production has ended with the completion of Episode 11, but that soon we won't be seeing any new episodes for quite some time. And since NBC has decided to air Episodes 10 and 11 just two days apart, that means that fans should expect an extended hiatus to begin at 11 P.M. EST on December 5th. A hiatus means no new episodes, which means nothing continuing to generate interest. Which means fans lose interest, and people leave, and the network has no reason to renew.

There are outlets for "Life" fans (Lifers, perhaps?) out there, though. That's the primary purpose of this article. Especially since this is a very young show, so it doesn't have the Internet presence that more established shows have. And of course you can't go out and buy the "Life" Season One DVD set.

The easiest thing to do is find fellow fans. NBC.com has a very nice page devoted to "Life", as it does for all its shows. Unfortunately it doesn't look like anyone's touched the show blog in months, but the message board is strong and already has multiple pages' worth of topics. A second option is the TV.com message board, although oddly enough, they have Robin Weigert's face on the banner along with Damian Lewis, rather than Sarah Shahi. Naturally you can also find fans on Livejournal.com, although it's a bit tricky.

You can't exactly type in "life" when you explore by interest and expect a narrow result. Among several LJ-communities, your best bet is LifeTV. It has almost two hundred members, who are free to discuss past episodes, post icons they've created, and show off their new fan fiction.

As for other resources, NBC.com is again your best bet. You can download full episodes there, as well as behind-the-scenes footage, photos, "documentary" clips, and help with creating your own "Life" page. Besides that, fan fiction has already started to crop up at Fanfiction.net, and creative fans are posting fanfic, fanart, and icons at LJ-communities Life Fic and Life Icons, as well as LifeTV.

And the show itself? Episode Nine, "Serious Control Issues", airs as scheduled at 10 PM EST on November 28. Episode Ten, "Dig a Hole, Fill It In, Part One", airs after "Heroes" at 10 PM EST on December 3. Then Episode Eleven, "Dig a Hole, Fill It In, Part Two", airs just two days later at 10 PM EST on December 5. After that . . . well, there's always reruns, but that assumes NBC will air them, rather than hordes of new reality programs.

What does happen after that? It's always hard to say, but the impact of the writers' strike makes it almost impossible to predict. And looking at the most recent ratings is an exercise in "good news, bad news". Against "CSI: NY" and "Dirty Sexy Money", "Life" is still No. 3 in overall numbers. However, last week it outperformed "Bionic Woman" by ten percent despite the later time slot, and it was #1 in a pretty important demographic, men ages 18-34. At the very least, what you can take from that is the knowledge that "Life" isn't doomed. Not if people keep watching. Not if they come back. Not if we help. Not if the word stays out there. (And not if its talented writing team, along with their colleagues, get what they're demanding from producers.)