Liberal talk show host Alan Colmes is leaving ‘Hannity and Colmes’ after twelve very successful years of teaming up to the left of conservative Sean Hannity on the #1 cable talk show for the 9pm EST hour on Fox News.

In announcing his decision, Colmes said, “I approached Bill Shine (FNC’s Senior Vice President of Programming) earlier this year about wanting to move on after 12 years to develop new and challenging ways to contribute to the growth of the network. Although it’s bittersweet to leave one of the longest marriages on cable news, I’m proud that both Sean (Hannity) and I remained unharmed after sitting side by side, night after night for so many years.”

Colmes will continue to have a presence on FNC as he will serve as a liberal commentator on a variety of FOX News programming, including Foxnews.com’s The Strategy Room and continue hosting his radio program, The Alan Colmes Show on FOX Talk, a division of FOX News Radio. He will also begin developing a weekend program.

‘Hannity & Colmes’ has been #1 for it’s time slot since 2003.  It is the second most watched cable news program behind Bill O’Reilly’s ‘The Factor’ which airs right before HAC.