Hannity & Colmes was a live television show on Fox News Channel in the United States, hosted by Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes, who respectively presented a conservative and liberal perspective. The series premiered on October 7, 1996, and the final episode aired on January 9, 2009. It was the precursor to the Hannity program, which airs in the same time slot. 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 soft news 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, which similarly had co-hosts on both 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 remains a commentator on Fox News, runs Liberaland, and makes occasional appearances on other programs like The O'Reilly Factor, and Shovio.com's TalkBackTV. On December 11, 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 marking the beginning of the new Hannity program.