TV shows give viewers a chance to participate and invest in lives and people that — though fictional — gleam with reality and relatability. You soon develop a win-win relationship with your TV friends and their respective corporate owners (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX — those three letter people).

“TV program,” you declare. “I will give you a half an hour of my time and a portion of my television bill if you give me laughs, memories, and peace of mind. Deal?”

Then your favorite characters gleefully agree as the intimidating corporate businessmen behind them fist bump in approval. You shake on it, sign a binding contract stating that you will stay faithful to the program for all its days, and live happily ever after.

But then the unthinkable — but totally inevitable — happens.

The show ends.

Or you run out of episodes on Netflix, which is a whole other trauma.

Or worse, you are upset not just that it ended, but the way it ended.

“How can they have ended this program? We were doing so well. Together for seven years and then you just leave? I thought we would grow old together. And what about the kids, I will never see what happens with the kids! I honestly thought you cared about me!”

It has happened to the best of us.

And now the end has come, or is quickly approaching, for several favorite television shows, and this sadness has heavily hit Lane’s halls. “Glee,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Parenthood,” “The Killing,” “Mad Men,” “Justified,” “Two and a Half Men,” “The Mentalist” and many more programs have reached their end and have left both Lane students and teachers with the universal symptoms of Series Finale Sadness Syndrome (SFSS).

Symptoms include — but are not limited to — unwillingness to commit adultery by watching other shows, re-watching old episodes on Netflix just to feel the warm nostalgia, eating your character’s favorite meal, constantly making references to the show even though none of the people around you understand what you are saying or your pain, and setting the theme song (no matter how dorky) as your alarm clock, ringtone, and personal workout jam.

And to make matters worse everyone’s favorite corporate card company holiday — Valentine’s Day if you missed the hint — has come around. Just great! It has come to remind current and past SFSS sufferers that never again will there be a Valentine’s Day episode where two characters fall in or out of love. You are left searching through your fridge looking for the Cake Batter Ice Cream bucket from your last crying spell during the series finale. Just to realize that was seven months ago and you have to get over it.

I know the struggle.

In an effort to help others who have lost their television love, I have compiled a list of advice from other Laneites on how to cope with the inescapable end depending on what kind of Television Breakup you are experiencing.

MR. COMISKEY, music teacher and vocalist, will soon too lose his TV love.

The impending end of “Parks and Recreation” — a show centered on the employees of a small town  Parks and Recreation department (you guessed it) — is troubling Comiskey.

“I started watching right when it started,” Comiskey said.

It is so strong an attachment that he struggles to pick a favorite character, stuck between the Band frontman, Andy Dwyer (“the obvious choice”) and the man with a slang encyclopedia, Tom Haverford.

“I don’t know, I can’t choose,” Comiskey said.

Comiskey’s relationship with “Parks and Recreation” reached a tough patch right at the onset.

“The first season was not good,” Comiskey said. “I was sticking it out like ‘This has to be good. These people, Amy Poehler, they are so funny.’ But then second, third, fourth season it got really funny and I love it. It’s great.”

Comiskey now is left with the same symptoms of SFSS as the rest of us, but offers advice and reassuring words to us all on how to cope.

ADVICE #1 — TO THOSE WHO ARE AT PEACE WITH HOW THE SHOW IS ENDING

“There are a lot of shows that keep going and at a certain point they just get bad. That’s no fun. So knowing that it [Parks and Rec] is ending on a good note is reassuring… Comedy is a always evolving animal, especially comic TV … Just look forward to other new things that might be exciting, even though you have to say goodbye to these characters being played and shows you like.”

But what if the ending isn’t  what you want it to be? How shall you cope then?

MS. FINCHUM, science teacher, had a 6-year relationship with “How I Met Your Mother” before the end last March.

Finchum began watching HIMYM — a father’s awkward and absurd narrative to his children about the road to meeting their mom — during the fifth season.

Finchum and HIMYM were first introduced to each other by a mutual friend. Then their paths crossed again while searching through Netflix for something new.

And it was love at series premiere. Her favorite aspects of the show included the unique humor and escape she was able to find in it.

“The sarcasm was great,” Finchum said. “The way the writing was done, it was not super artsy but it was satisfying. Something you could watch without having to be super engaged.”

Then on March 31, 2014, the end arrived.

And HIMYM-gate began.

The ending was upsetting to many viewers and spurred social media outrage, but Finchum had smelled something fishy before the scandal erupted.

“I knew they were going to pull some stuff like that,” Finchum said.

For the sake of the current HIMYM viewers I will refer to the major plot twist as “it” and the subsequent fall out as “post-it.”

“Once [it] actually happened, I did not expect [post-it],” Finchum said. “And I was very upset about that … I did not prefer the ending.”

Now looking back Finchum offers this Chicken Soup for the HIMYM saddened soul.

ADVICE #2 — TO THOSE WHO THOUGHT THE ENDING WOULD BE LEGEND–WAIT FOR IT–DARY BUT WASN’T

“Write a stern letter to the writers. Or turn off your TVs and open a book.”

Such teacher-like advice — though true. A book doesn’t carry you around for nine years only to leave you stranded.

Finchum started her viewing relationship with HIMYM on streaming sites like Netflix and Hulu and then furthered the relationship to the traditional TV box set.

This next one is for you guys stuck in the Netflix (or if you are old school, DVD) zone.

ADRIAN ANTOS, Div. 562, first started watching “Freaks and Geeks” when his brother received the DVDs for his birthday about a year ago.

Antos describes “Freaks and Geeks” as “Secret Life of an American Teenager except it doesn’t suck.”

The show starred several now-famous comedians (ie. James Franco and Jason Segal), and ran for one 18-episode run from 1999 to 2000.

(**Please note when he says “her” he is referring to Freaks and Geeks***)

“Right when me and her were getting comfortable with our lives together FOX shot her,” Antos said. “I ran to her bleeding body and vowed to get revenge on whoever did this. A year has passed and I continue to send angry emails to FOX.”

It all ended too early.

“It felt a lot like my unfinished masterpiece,” Antos said.

Antos had learned a lot from the show.

“My favorite parts of the show were the touching moments, and there were a lot of them,” Antos said. “‘Freaks and Geeks’ taught me a lot, and I’m sorry, but it hurts for me to talk about her.”

So let’s just cut to the advice.

ADVICE #3 — TO THOSE WHO HAVE ENDED A SERIES ON NETFLIX (DVD, VCR, WHAT HAVE YOU) AND DO NOT KNOW WHERE TO TURN

“Watch ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ — they have like seven seasons of it — and it’s awesome — and ice cream.”

So there you have it, Laneites. We have all experienced this hardship and are here for you as you struggle through it.

Just remember this Valentine’s Day, as you watch other friends and relatives snuggled up in a blanket watching their favorite — still faithful — program, that there are always new shows around the corner.

Maybe you should look through your recommended shows on Netflix, surf the web for something new, or join an online dating site? Or just stick to your ice cream and sappy romance movies.