'Hannity' Premiere Beats King and Maddow Combined

Don't listen to folks in the media claiming conservatism is either dead or dying, for on Monday night the premiere of Fox News's "Hannity" attracted more viewers than CNN's "Larry King Live" and MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show" combined.

And, in the critical demographic of folks aged 25-54, host Sean Hannity, now flying solo without longtime co-host Alan Colmes, bested his liberal competition by wide margins suggesting that it's not just older people interested in conservative views.

Here are the specifics from TV by the Numbers.com:

9 PM - P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
Hannity–2,835,000 viewers (703,000) (1,155,000)
Larry King Live—934,000 viewers (319,000) (468,000)
Rachel Maddow Show –1,341,000 viewers (441,000) (723,000)
Saving GM: Inside Crisis– 293,000 viewers (167,000) (183,000)
Lou Dobbs- 597,000 viewers (247,000) (339,000)

Maybe more interesting, Hannity by himself attracted about 400,000 more viewers in his premier than he did with Colmes in their final show last Friday. As TVNewser reported Tuesday, "The program was up 51% in Total Viewers and 78% in the demo compared to "Hannity & Colmes" in January '09."

To be fair, Monday's show included the first in a two-part interview with President Bush. Yet, it still makes you wonder if the absence of the often-annoying Colmes will be a boon for Hannity AND conservatism.

Stay tuned.