No, I’m not talking about his bit with Richard Wolffe, where conflates bureaucratic turf wars with a group of Republican moles actively aiding terrorists, I mean his new feature, the 2 short “mini-comments”, each 1 minute long, which will air each show.

Normally, I use the phrase “Jump the Shark,” to describe some sort of gaffe which will forever tarnish the person who uttered the bon mot.

However, in this case, I am referring to the original, and rather more mild definition of, the point in a television program’s history where it’s done, and there is not much more to get out of it.

Regular twice-a-show mini “Special Comments” are an indication that the program has run out its string.

It’s not surprising: Countdown was always more driven by snark, particularly in the early days, and outrage at Bush and His Evil Minions^™ and Olbermann is a (very good) sportscaster who tends to see political confrontations in the same sort zero-sum terms of a ball game.

BTW, if one of my reader(s) could rat me out to Olbermann as a “Worst Person in the World“, please do so. I could use the eyeballs.

I’m more of a policy wonk myself, and as such I prefer Rachael Maddow’s show, and I will always be grateful to Keith Olbermann for introducing me to her show.

I’ll still probably watch it streaming on my PC, in the background, which is what I do with both of their shows now, but Keith does not surprise me much any more.