So far, the great technological leap of 2008 is TV with the sound off. With the continuing writers’ strike, we’re getting TV without words, as TV figures from sitcom stars to late-night hosts to certain presidential candidates face opening their mouths and having nothing come out.

It’s something like watching CNN on the TV above the bar.

The networks’ response to having the scripts cut off, of course, is to go scriptless – to expand their range of low-cost, low-word reality shows. This allows viewers to watch TV to see people just like themselves – although you’d think getting away from people like themselves is why they watch TV in the first place.

Still, the reality show idea is indefinitely expandable, like TV shopping networks or new series for Christina Applegate. As the strike moves into the new year, a wide range of new realities will appear on your TV screen – when you’re not using it to play “Grand Theft Auto”:

“So You Think Your American Gladiator Can Dance”: A shrewd mixture of two successful reality styles, as contestants named Cataclysm and Internal Injuries perform in ballroom, samba and throwing their partners for distance. To add more excitement to the mix, competing couples are allowed to attack each other during the tango.

“Teal or No Teal”: Competitive interior decoration, as two teams rush to furnish a new house in eye-relaxing colors. On live television, contestants who lose the wallpaper competition are publicly flocked.

“Sunset Tan on C-Span”: The popular series about a West Coast tanning salon moves to Capitol Hill. Watch congressmen choose their campaign coloration, bringing in consultants and focus groups to pick between Bermuda Bronze and South Beach Sienna. Watch the hardbodies in the tanning salon try to figure out what a congressman is.

“Who Wants to Marry a Periodontist?”: Romance meets gum disease, and excitement follows. In a big finish to the eight-week show, the doctor reveals to contestants details of his offshore bank accounts in the Cayman Islands, and the finalists battle in a floss-off.

“The Bachelor of Arts”: One hundred recent graduates with English majors compete for a single job at a car rental agency. Contestants are monitored by 24-hour cameras hidden in their bedroom in their parents’ basement.

“Squeal or No Squeal”: Contestants selected from the audience compete against professional hog butchers. Not recommended for high-definition TV.

“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”: In a highly touted show scheduled for an April premiere, Harry Potter meets Donald Trump. Viewers will be on the edge of their seats to find out which contestant each week is dismissed with the catch phrase, “You’re turned into a toad.”

“America’s Next Top Accountant”: Contestants struggle through Tyra Banks’ business deductions, competing to find the most creative section to write off eye shadow. What’s the perfect Internal Revenue Code subchapter for lingerie depreciation? That’s Victoria’s secret.

“Seal or No Seal”: On an Alaska ice floe, two teams try to find and preserve vanishing Arctic wildlife without getting eaten by the show’s polar bear. Host: Al Gore.

“Bigger Brother”: Contestants are constantly monitored with cameras, microphones and telephone surveillance, and at the end of each week’s show are gathered to vote to turn one of the residents over to the National Security Agency. Sponsored by the Patriot Act and Chevrolet.

“Extreme Turnover”: Competitive baking. Two teams, Apple and Blueberry, try to hide each others’ icing.

“Survivor: Network Headquarters”: The most ruthless “Survivor” episode yet. As network ratings come in, viewers watch as each week’s losers forfeit first-class flying rights, decent tables at Los Angeles restaurants and having agents return their phone calls. At the series’ end, the winner gets a special Humanitarian Emmy, while the loser ends up running Channel 57 in Pierre, S.D.

“Peal or No Peal”: Contestants guess the right times to ring church bells. The winner gets $1 million; the loser faces serious theological implications.