Just when you thought the "Redmond Justice" trial had completely run out of steam, along comes news other than the usual dry-as-toast info about court filings and response briefs and other similar non-thrilling appeals dross. Personally, ever since Microsoft got slapped with the guilty verdict, we've found the show to have thundered downhill faster than after David and Maddy slept together on "Moonlighting." (Some shows rely on sexual tension; "Redmond Justice" needed the impending verdict to hold it together.) Now, though, it seems as though the writers are hoping to inject a little much-needed excitement by having the Appeals Court make some overtly pro-Microsoft noises.

As we all know, Microsoft has been whining about what it considers to be Judge Jackson's overt anti-Redmond bias since day one; imagine, the nerve of that guy, treating the company as if it broke the law or something! (After all, just because a defendant is caught faking evidence three times during one trial, that's no reason to be mean.) Anyway, Microsoft's most recent mantra regarding Jackson's bias involves interviews he granted to the press, in which he allegedly discussed the case improperly before the trial was over, thus demonstrating his ingrained bias against the defendant. Microsoft has been going on and on about this to anyone who will listen, and about a zillion people who won't.

But what's this? It turns out that the Appeals Court falls into the former category. According to The Register, that august body has just granted Microsoft a request it never even actually made: a "30 minute session on Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's conduct of the trial, and his alleged mouthiness outside of the court." This comes just one week after Microsoft agreed to drop the whole issue of the judge's conduct and focus instead on the facts surrounding its crime, so it really is a gift. What this means is that Microsoft and the government actually get to stand up and argue in court over whether or not Judge Jackson's behavior was acceptable-- as opposed to whether or not Microsoft's behavior was acceptable. Will that be enough to revive this show from the critical list? We'll find out soon enough...