Hey, if you're at all like us, you were bummed (but not at all surprised) to learn that Bill Gates was not on the "Redmond Justice" witness list this season. Seeing the world's richest man on the stand in a federal antitrust trial would have been a fantastic ratings grabber, but presumably Gates' asking price was too high, and the producers had to pass. They weren't above using some creative editing to include him in the season premiere last Monday, however; excerpts of Gate's taped deposition, recorded last August, were played in court as part of the Department of Justice's opening arguments. It's a mild twist on that patented television move of padding an episode with clips of previously-shown material, because Gates' deposition has yet to be seen by the public. But that's all going to change.

Presumably the producers are a little disappointed with the ratings of "Redmond Justice," which started out incredibly strong on Monday and Tuesday, but declined sharply through the rest of the week as Microsoft attorney John Warden got bogged down in boring factual minutiae and an apparent desire to keep Netscape head dude Jim Barksdale on the stand until one of them drops dead of old age. We all should have known that Warden isn't much of a performer; sure, his shouting matches with Barksdale were entertaining enough, but altogether too brief-- and what's with the low-tech transparencies on the overhead projector? We expected more from Microsoft's famed legal department.

So the producers have taken action. According to an Associated Press article, next week's episodes of "Redmond Justice" will see the return of Bill Gates, albeit once more in video form only. The government is planning to play eight hours of his deposition in court, after which the tape will be made public. Great move! That'll bring back the viewers. After all, video is the next best thing to being there. Microsoft isn't too pleased with the idea, however; spokesman Mark Murray claims that the use of taped footage of His Mightiness is merely a cheap "effort to demonize... a visionary and innovator." But Mark, we were talking about Bill Gates, here. C'mon, keep up with the rest of us.