Hannity & Colmes - Reception

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 month prior to the 2008 presidential election.

Alan Colmes was touted by Fox as "a hard-hitting liberal", but stated to USA Today that "I'm quite moderate". He sometimes took more 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". 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. Franken also claimed that Colmes did not speak as much as Hannity during the show. Some critics also questioned whether or not both hosts receive equal time to interview guests. 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.

A study by Media Matters conducted through January and February 2006 found 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 are conducted with conservatives and Republicans.