View source for Hannity & Colmes

{{Short description|American live television show on Fox News}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image       = hannitycolmes.png
| caption     = Former title card for ''Hannity & Colmes''
| genre       = [[Political]] [[Television program|program]]
| camera      = [[Multi-camera]]
| runtime     = 60 minutes
| presenter   = [[Sean Hannity]] <br />[[Alan Colmes]]
| country     = United States
| location    = [[New York City, New York|New York City]]
| language    = English
| network     = [[Fox News]]
| first_aired = {{start date|1996|10|7}}
| last_aired  = {{end date|2009|1|9}}
| related     = {{Plainlist|
* ''[[Hannity]]''
}}
}}
[[Image:Fox News Channel&#39;s Your World studio.jpg|thumb|250px|FNC's Studio D for ''[[Your World]]'' and ''Hannity & Colmes'']]
'''''Hannity & Colmes''''' <!--do NOT change to was-->was<!--per Wikipedia guidelines, except it should be WAS because the periodical is discontinued and no longer produced https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style#Verb_tense--> a [[live television]] show<ref>Broadcast live in Eastern time zone, delayed in other time zones via Fox network affiliates.</ref> on [[Fox News]] in the United States, hosted by [[Sean Hannity]]<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,1242,00.html |title=Sean Hannity Bio |access-date=2007-10-14 |publisher=[[FoxNews.com]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012214551/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C1242%2C00.html |archive-date=October 12, 2007 }}</ref> and [[Alan Colmes]],<ref>[https://www.foxnews.com/story/alan-colmes-bio Alan Colmes' Bio], [[FoxNews.com]] October 10, 2002</ref> who respectively presented a [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] and [[Liberalism in the United States|liberal]] perspective. The series premiered on October 7, 1996, and the final episode aired on January 9, 2009. The show offered Hannity's conservative views and Colmes's liberal views incorporated into a current news story, or in conjunction with a featured guest.

In addition to politics, the show featured debate about non-political stories, such as the [[2006 Duke University lacrosse team scandal]] or the [[death of Anna Nicole Smith]], or one-on-one interviews with politicians, commonly with the host who most closely shared the guest's political ideology. The show's format resembled a former [[CNN]] show called ''[[Crossfire (American TV program)|Crossfire]]'', which similarly had co-hosts on both [[Left-right politics|the left and right]].

Fox announced on November 24, 2008, that Alan Colmes would leave the show at the end of the year, but he remained a commentator on Fox News, ran the blog Liberaland, and made occasional appearances on other programs like ''The O'Reilly Factor'', and Shovio.com's ''TalkBackTV'' up until his death on February 23, 2017. On December 11, 2008, it was announced that Hannity would take over the time slot alone with a new show simply titled ''Hannity'', which would have a format closer to his weekend program ''[[Hannity's America]]''. January 9, 2009, was the last airing of ''Hannity & Colmes'', with January 12, 2009, marking the beginning of the new ''[[Hannity]]'' program.

==Guest hosts==
When either Hannity or Colmes were not available, a guest host replaced the missing host while using the same political ideology. Some guest hosts were normal contributors to the show, while others became regular fill-ins.
{|class=wikitable
|-
|+Guest hosts for...
|-
!Hannity!!Colmes
|-
|valign=top|<!--Hannity-->
*[[John Kasich]]
*[[Alphonse D'Amato]]
*[[Monica Crowley]]
*[[Newt Gingrich]]
*[[Laura Ingraham]]
*[[Rich Lowry]]
*[[Oliver North]]
*[[Michael S. Steele]]
*[[Mark Steyn]]
*[[Cal Thomas]]
*[[Chuck Norris]]
*[[Michelle Malkin]]
*[[Don King (boxing promoter)|Don King]]
|valign=top|<!--Colmes-->
*[[Bob Beckel]]
*[[Susan Estrich]]
*[[Harold Ford Jr.]]
*[[Kirsten Powers]]
*[[Robert Reich]]
|}

==Reception==
The show was both praised and criticized by viewers and organizations for the concept and production of the show. Ratings-wise, it was long the second highest-rated program in U.S. cable news behind  ''[[The O'Reilly Factor]]'' and averaged 3.3 million viewers nightly for the [[Nielsen Media Research|Nielsen]] month prior to the [[2008 United States presidential election|2008 presidential election]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20081124/pl_politico/26523 |title=Hannity and Colmes split up - Yahoo! News |access-date=2017-01-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101211175941/http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20081124/pl_politico/26523 |archive-date=2010-12-11 }}</ref>

[[Alan Colmes]] was touted by Fox as "a hard-hitting [[Liberalism in the United States|liberal]]", but stated to ''[[USA Today]]'' that "I'm quite [[moderate]]".<ref>{{Cite journal |first=DeRosa |last=Robin|title=Tuning in to high-wattage talk show hosts |journal=USA Today |publisher=Gannett Company, Inc. |id=Alan Colmes |page=LIFE; Pg. 7D |date=1995-02-01 |quote=I think I'm quite moderate&nbsp;... I follow Limbaugh on about 100 stations and I precede other conservatives, so I may be the only person giving a different point of view. }}</ref> He sometimes took more [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] positions than other prominent liberals, such as supporting [[Rudy Giuliani]] for mayor of [[New York City]] and agreeing with the use of [[torture]] techniques by the [[government of the United States]]. He was characterized by several newspapers as being Hannity's "sidekick".<ref name=rendall>[http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1158 An Aggressive Conservative vs. a "Liberal to be Determined"] by Steve Rendall, [[Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting]], November/December 2003</ref> Liberal commentator [[Al Franken]] lambasted Colmes in his book, ''[[Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them]]'', accusing him of refusing to ask tough questions during debates and neglecting to challenge erroneous claims made by Hannity or his guests.<ref name=rendall/> Franken also claimed that Colmes did not speak as much as Hannity during the show. Some critics also questioned whether or not both hosts received equal time to interview guests.<ref name=rendall/> Some of Colmes' liberal critics, notably commentators at [[Media Matters for America]], praised him toward the end of the show's run, however. He then began citing their reports in his confrontations with some of his conservative guests on the program.<ref>[http://mediamatters.org/items/200606150004 Colmes noted missed opportunities to eliminate Zarqawi prior to war that went unreported by media after terrorist's death] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070105060721/http://mediamatters.org/items/200606150004 |date=January 5, 2007 }}, [[Media Matters for America]]</ref><ref>[http://mediamatters.org/items/200501310003 Colmes confronted Williams with inconsistent statements on No Child Left Behind] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226102254/http://mediamatters.org/items/200501310003 |date=2009-02-26 }}, [[Media Matters for America]]</ref>
[[Image:Fox News Channel&#39;s Hannity and Colmes production area.jpg|thumb|The production area of ''Hannity & Colmes'']]

A study by Media Matters conducted through January and February 2006 stated that the number of conservatives and Republicans brought on as guests outnumbered the number of liberals and Democrats by margins of 72%–28% in January, and 67%–33% in February. Of the solo interviews that were conducted on the show, 80% of the interviews were with conservatives and Republicans.<ref>[http://mediamatters.org/items/200603300010 Unfair & imbalanced: Republicans and conservatives dominate on ''Hannity & Colmes''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080203041524/http://mediamatters.org/items/200603300010 |date=February 3, 2008 }}, [[Media Matters for America]]</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.foxnews.com/hannityandcolmes Official ''Hannity & Colmes'' website (now redirects to ''Hannity''{{'}}s website)]
* {{IMDb title|0287223|Hannity & Colmes}}

{{Sean Hannity}}
{{FoxNewsChannelPrograms}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hannity and Colmes}}
[[Category:1990s American television talk shows]]
[[Category:1996 American television series debuts]]
[[Category:2000s American television talk shows]]
[[Category:2009 American television series endings]]
[[Category:Duos]]
[[Category:Fox News original programming]]
[[Category:Sean Hannity]]