But there’s a bit of tension over at 30 Rock these days, because “Good Morning America” has finally started to beat “Today” in the ratings after a nearly unbroken 16-year streak playing runner-up.

Right after the switch, media gossips began to wonder whether “Today’s” biggest star (apologies to mid-day drinking aficionados Kathy and Hoda) was behind the change. Even Al Roker came down on Ann’s side by accusing Matt of “throw[ing] one of us under the bus.” Leave it to the New York Post to come up with a fitting nickname for “Anchor Animal” Lauer and accuse him of being too demanding on set. Juicy!

Well, in an apparent attempt to control the rumors and counter the negative press, executive producer Jim Bell gave interviews to both The Hollywood Reporter and The New York Times “Media Decoder” blog this week.

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According to preliminary numbers, Good Morning America is winning the week so far by 360,000 total viewers and 40,000 in the 25 to 54-year-old age range.

Ratings for the new show Good Afternoon America are also doing pretty well, with the program getting 1.92 million total viewers on Monday and 2.04 million on Tuesday.

Today is preparing to bring its A-game to the London Olympics, which kick off in a couple of weeks. Any thoughts about Guthrie’s co-hosting skill or Good Afternoon America? The comments section is open.

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Good Afternoon America starts today at 2 p.m. ET. The clip above offers a sneak peek of what to expect. The show replaces a failed daytime talk show called The Revolution, which we’d never even heard of. Hosts are Lara Spencer and Josh Elliot.

Meanwhile, over on the Today show, Savannah Guthrie made her official debut as co-anchor. We’ve got her opening moments in the video below and TVNewser has additional footage of her first day.
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Savannah Guthrie

The problem is this change was anything but. There were leaks and speculation for about a week. And on the day of her departure, there was this big story in USA Today.

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Ann Curry bid a tearful farewell to the Today show this morning, expressing her love for the viewers, her colleagues, and the behind-the-scenes players on the show.

There had been speculation over the past week or so that she would be leaving the show, possibly with a big payday. During her announcement, Curry said she’d be working on big stories, “the work that most of us got into journalism to do,” which will be broadcast across NBC’s news programs. NBC News president Steve Capus went into further detail about the types of stories Curry would be covering: “humanitarian” stories both here and abroad.

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Soooo. Wow. Let’s start by saying that Ann Curry, a fantastic reporter, was probably not the best person to handle what Tyson was inevitably bringing to the set.

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The Pulitzer Prize winners were just announced (click that link for more info about the winning stories). Among them: Sara Ganim and members of the Harrisburg, PA Patriot-News staff for local reporting, The Huffington Post‘s David Wood for national reporting, and Jeffrey Gettleman of The New York Times for international reporting.

It looks like Good Morning America topped the Today show in viewership last week, the first time in 16 years. The Today show will likely still win in the 18-to-54-year-old age category, and the margin could be as small as 13,000 viewers, but it’s a ratings win nonetheless. Official word comes on Thursday.

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This morning, the TODAY show had an exclusive peek at the trailer for Whitney Houston’s final film, a remake of 1976′s Sparkle.

In the days following Houston’s unexpected death in February, we were told that plans for the remake’s release would be on schedule, with the premiere set for August 17. The movie also stars American Idol‘s Jordin Sparks.

Renewed interest in Houston and her work is expected to drive ticket sales for the movie. The coroner’s report shows that Houston died of accidental drowning with heart disease and cocaine use as possible contributing factors.

Recent blockbusters and flops — The Hunger Games and John Carter respectively, for example — have demonstrated the importance of effective marketing in the months leading up to a film premiere.

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So Lindsay Lohan wants you to know she is getting it together and would like to be an actress. She’s going to host Saturday Night Live this weekend and to promote her return to the stage she did an interview with Matt Lauer for the Today show in which she talked about doing what she loves, not being a slave to love, and how much she loves going to movie premieres (especially when she’s in the movie).

The Hollywood Reporter has pulled seven quotes from the interview that they think are the result of perhaps too much media training. We have to say, there’s a point (4:05 in the video after the jump) where she talks about how much she misses “sharing” what she does with viewers, and she seems completely sincere. Basically she’s saying she likes it when people watch her movies, which is a) what movies actors thrive on, so it makes sense and b) kind of vain. Nonetheless, she sounds earnest about wanting to get on the movie-making path.

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The January 6, 1964 cover

Today commemorates 60 years on the air. TVNewser went to the party last night.

The New York Times‘ public editor Arthur Brisbane was feeling the heat yesterday over his take on whether reporters should be “truth vigilantes.” A lot of people thought that was a dumb question so Brisbane has come back to reiterate that it is not. Jill Abramson has also responded.

A Ron Paul super PAC has written a press release calling for CNN‘s Dana Bash to be taken off the campaign beat. CNN replied: “The notion that Dana is anything but objective is preposterous.”

Spin magazine has launched @SpinReviews. [via Fishbowl NY]

Newsweek plans to recreate the magazine’s 1960s design in the March 19 issue to commemorate the season premiere of Mad Men. [via Ad Age]

Pinterest says Martha Stewart, Real Simple, and Better Homes & Gardens are top pinners. [via minOnline]

The Huffington Post has launched a Good News channel for inspiration stories. Jessica Prois, who also heads the Impact section, will edit the new channel.

Click through for more media changes.

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Ryan Seacrest

TIME.com‘s GM paid a visit to Mediabistro’s Publishing App Expo to talk about the role of apps in a business plan. For more on the Expo, check out GalleyCat and eBookNewser.

The publisher, EIC, and creative director of the Manhattan society mag AVENUE have jumped ship with some of Jared Kushner’s money in order to start another Manhattan society mag that has yet to be named. Kushner is the wallet behind the New York Observer (and is married to Ivanka Trump). A statement from the new publication’s publisher and CEO (and AVENUE‘s former publisher), Julie Dannenberg , includes references to Henry James and Edith Wharton so we’re guessing this magazine will be pretty annoying. (Though we love us some Edith Wharton.)

Vogue has launched an archive and the subscription costs $1,575 per year. That’s as much as the average pair of designer shoes on one of its pages, so it’s a deal? The archive has 100,000 articles and 425,000 images. [via Folio]

NewsBasis, a HARO/ProfNet-like site that launched last year, is shutting down on December 16.

T.J. Holmes is leaving CNN at the end of the year to join BET, where he will have his own show and a presence on the website. [via TVNewser]

Click through for more media changes.

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Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz appeared on the Today show yesterday to introduce  that company’s new philanthropic campaign, which seeks to raise money that will help small businesses in need of loans. Launched in collaboration with Create Jobs for USA and the Opportunity Finance Network, Starbucks is getting the ball rolling with a $5 million donation. And each $5 donation from consumers will get them a wristband that shows support.

During the Today show appearance, Matt Lauer played devil’s advocate, asking Schultz to address any “cynicism” out there about this being a PR project. “I can assure you, this is nothing about marketing,” Schultz replied. He continued, in response to another question, “This is not about PR.”

Lauer said at one point, “You say it’s not PR, but it sounds a lot like a PR campaign.” Why can’t it be both philanthropic and a PR campaign?

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Alexis Stewart, daughter of the one and only Martha Stewart, and her former co-host and friend Jennifer Koppelman Hutt made an appearance this morning on the Today show to promote their new book Whateverland: Learning to Live Here. Today interviewer Savannah Guthrie focused on a number of quotes from the book where Stewart comments on the rigors of growing up with a mama like Martha. For instance, there were no prepared foods in the house so little Alexis had to “forage” for herself. Guthrie points out that the book has made headlines for various revelations. Sounds like what you’d expect, right?

The interview got some attention here in the Mediabistro’s office for the way Alexis conducted it. “Icy” and “cold” were a couple of the adjectives used here. (A couple of other outlets have also written about it.)

From what we can tell, Stewart is just a prickly personality and was extra crabby (and defensive) for being questioned about some of what she wrote. And bonus: both ladies say they’re no longer friends, so they get to sit next to each other on the Today show couch looking six kinds of uncomfortable. Happy Monday!

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Brad Pitt has been out and about promoting his new film Moneyball, which was many years in the making and is already getting some positive response from the critics.

But if you really think about it, how often do you hear from Brad Pitt? You see his picture all the time, in red carpet events or paparazzi photos as he travels about with Angelina and the kids. Maybe he’ll talk about his charity work or, like now, a new film. So doesn’t it suck that when he finally does open his mouth, he spends the rest of his Moneyball promo tour explaining that he really didn’t mean anything bad with that comment about the 90s and his marriage to Jennifer Aniston?

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