We know we're not alone; there are those among you who, like us, are still mourning the dreadful loss of "Redmond Justice." Sure, it's just on hiatus and will return in six weeks or so, but that's damn near forever to a pack of TV junkies whose attention span is so short as to be measurable only under laboratory conditions. Just what are we supposed to do during the downtime for our daily antitrust fix? We miss the thrill of battle, the musty smell of the courtroom, the surprise witnesses, the sudden tearful confessions of murder... Hmmm, it's possible we're thinking about something else, here... Regardless, we know there was something cool and delightfully entertaining about "Redmond Justice" and we're jonesing for a little courtroom action. Why, oh why did the producers of the show introduce a six-week hiatus? Sure, the players deserved a vacation, but can't they just once consider the feelings of us, the faithful viewers?

But suddenly, all comes clear-- the producers of "Redmond Justice" have a cunning plan to release us from our dungeon of misery and capitalize on their show's success in the same grand manner that television producers have done since the seventeenth century. We speak, of course, of the spin-off, that most sacred staple of network programming that virtually guarantees a ready-made audience salivating for more. Yes, just as Cheers begat Frasier and Barney Miller spat out Fish, just as (in the words of one of this millennium's Great Sages) "Happy Days had a baby and they named it Joanie Loves Chachi," there's a new antitrust show coming to town, with new issues, new allegations, and new characters with new axes to grind. It's called (regrettably) "Monopoly Inside," and it premieres Tuesday-- check your local listings for the time and channel.

According to a story on Yahoo News, "Monopoly Inside" is leading off with an expected six-week run, which ought to tide us "Redmond Justice" fans over until the blasted hiatus runs its course. That's decidedly canny program planning on the producers' part-- make us all sweat with a week's withdrawal to soften us up so we'll be more receptive to the spin-off. Here's the set-up: On one side of the conflict is Intel, the "other half" of the Wintel juggernaut. Trying to take them down a notch is the Federal Trade Commission, charging that Intel illegally squelched competition by using its monopoly power to squeeze technology from its competitors. Mediating the affair is Administrative Law Judge James Timony. If you ask us, those producers are taking something of a risk, since it appears that none of the players in "Monopoly Inside" will be familiar faces. No boyish antics from David Boies? No cranky and incredulous interjections from Judge Jackson? We can't help but feel that a spin-off has an uphill battle when none of its stars are beloved characters from the previous show. Still, Melrose Place pulled it off, so we'll just have to wait and see.