Was it Charlie Sheen?  The Oscars? The new EP?

Whatever the reason (probably the middle one), “Good Morning America” outperformed the “Today” show by 87,000 Total Viewers Monday morning. As we reported Sunday night, it’s big events like these which can give a boost to the following morning’s news shows — sometimes, simply because people leave their TVs on the channel they were watching the night before. “GMA” had Robin Roberts in Hollywood for post-Oscars coverage. She also hosted ABC’s Red Carpet special Sunday night. NBC had Meredith Vieira in Hollywood. And, as you know by now, both shows had interviews with Charlie Sheen. The Oscars telecast on ABC was down -9% compared to the 2010 show. Monday was also James Goldston‘s first day as senior EP of the GMA.

ABC topped NBC in each of the half hours (in fast affiliate numbers) which make up the morning show ratings:

• ABC

7-7:30am — 5.700
7:30am-8am — 5.696
8-8:30am — 5.746

• NBC

7-7:30am — 5.598
7:30am-8am  — 5.667
8-8:30am — 5.617

*Nielsen Fast Affiliate data is time period based

> Update: While the numbers above show “GMA” ahead in affiliate time period Data, “Today” actually comes out on top in fast national program data: 5.970 million viewers vs. GMA’s 5.947 million (advantage “Today” by 23,000 viewers). Also, in the A25-54 demo rating, “Today” had a wide lead, averaging a 2.2 (2.740 million viewers) vs. GMA’s 1.8 (2.296M). Maybe it was Charlie Sheen after all.