'Good Morning America': We beat 'Today'

One of the longest ratings winning streaks in TV history -- "Today's" 16-plus year reign as morning champ -- is effectively over. "Good Morning America" released figures Monday indicating that last week's Monday-Friday edition beat "Today" by the thinnest of margins -- about 13,000 viewers, or 5.147 million to 5.134 million.

Final numbers come in Thursday, but even "Today" is conceding that this streak -- which began when Bill Clinton was president and the same year the Yankees beat Atlanta in the World Series -- is over.

In a statement, "Today" executive producer Jim Bell, said, " 'Today's' 852-week winning streak had taken on a life of its own and as odd as it is to see it end, we should acknowledge just how remarkable it has been. So as we tip our caps to the team at 'Good Morning America,' we can also take a bow ourselves and recognize the work done by countless staffers for so long."

Tom Cibrowski, senior executive producer of "Good Morning America," had his own statement: "This is an exciting day, but we will save any celebrating for when the final numbers come in on Thursday."

Last week's "Today" show aired with Matt Lauer on vacation. Meanwhile, "GMA" was back to full strength and featured Robin Roberts' sit-down with Sherri Shepherd, whose emotional ejection from "Dancing With the Stars" last week was a water-cooler moment.

"Today's" streak is not even close to a daytime record: CBS' "The Young and the Restless" has been TV's top-rated soap every week since 1988.