Entertainment Tonight went behind the scenes of “Good Morning America” earlier this week. Have you ever wanted to know where Josh Elliott hides his Grape Nuts? Watch, and ye shall see.

It was a year ago this week that ABC’s “Good Morning America” learned it had unseated “Today” as the leading network morning show. While “GMA” has gone on to win most weeks since, the race is still tight. That’s why ABC News president Ben Sherwood tells his team to play like they’re still behind.

In a B&C cover story, Sherwood tells Andrea Morabito, “My message to them repeatedly is when you knock the champs down who’ve been champs for 16-17 years, they get back up and they throw even tougher punches.”

“GMA” Senior EP Tom Cibrowski doesn’t think the morning shifts are over yet. He’s spent most of his 10 years with the “GMA” in “Today’s” shadow: “I think if you spend a long time at No. 2, you build those genes, the DNA becomes part of your structure that you’ll never lose, you’ll never stop being scrappy, you’ll never stop looking at your show as coming from behind.”

Wall-to-wall coverage of the bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon continues into the second day. ABC News, NBC News and CBS News all broadcast special reports for President Obama’s remarks from the White House press briefing room at 11:30amET. Lester Holt anchored from Boston on NBC, Anthony Mason anchored on CBS and Diane Sawyer anchored on ABC. The cable news networks also broadcast the President’s comments.

Faced with few overnight developments in the investigation of the bombings, the morning shows focused on the human impact of the explosions, interviewing eyewitnesses and victims that were at the marathon finish line.

On “Today,” Savannah Guthrie‘s interview with the President — which was taped before news of the bombings broke — was condensed due to NBC’s coverage from Boston. More of the interview will air later this week. In Boston, Matt Lauer did a number of interviews with victims of the attack, including one with a couple from a hospital room at Tufts Medical Center:

On “Good Morning America,” George Stephanopoulos anchored from Boston, joined by ABC’s Josh Elliott, Martha Raddatz and Brian Ross. Stephanopoulos interviewed a runner who crossed the finish line seconds before the first blast, and “GMA” used a spot-shadow to identify her in the video of the explosion: Read more

The cable news networks pivoted to breaking news in Massachusetts shortly after 3pmET Monday afternoon as two explosions went off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Fox News was the first cable news network to report the news at 3:06:18 p.m., followed just seconds later by CNN at 3:06:53 p.m. MSNBC reported the news at 3:08:45 p.m. All three cable news networks were several minutes minutes behind the first reports of the explosions on Twitter.

Fox News and CNN are relying on live pictures from Boston local stations. MSNBC has video from New England Cable News, which is owned and operated by NBC Universal.

> More: The broadcast networks also broke in with news of the explosions. CBS News was first at 3:10pmET, followed by ABC News and NBC News at 3:13 p.m. Scott Pelley is anchoring on CBS, Brian Williams on NBC and Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos on ABC.

> More: Matt Frucci, the incoming executive producer of CNN’s new morning show, is doing eyewitness reports from the scene for the network. Wolf Blitzer is anchoring. And on Fox News, Shepard Smith is talking with WGBH’s Emily Rooney, former network executive and daughter of Andy Rooney.

> More: Anderson Cooper is on his way to Boston and will anchor at 8pmET and 10pmET.

> More: Here’s affiliate video of one of the explosions, as seen on CNN:

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In June, daredevil Nik Wallenda will attempt to walk across the Grand Canyon on a tightrope, live on Discovery Channel. NBC News’ Peacock Productions will be producing the jump, and so NBC “Today” co-hosts Willie Geist and Natalie Morales will be serving as the hosts of the event.

Wallenda announced the addition of Geist and Morales while walking on a tightrope above the audience at Discovery’s upfront presentation in New York yesterday (see the photo to the left). For insurance purposes, he was wearing a harness, “don’t worry though,” he said yesterday. “I won’t be wearing one when I walk across the Canyon.”

Last year ABC aired Wallenda’s walk across Niagara Falls, with “Good Morning America’”s Josh Elliott and “SportsCenter’”s Hannah Storm hosting. The event drew record ratings for ABC. ABC and Discovery were in a bidding war for the Grand Canyon stunt, with Discovery simply making the better offer. NBC, as the producer of the show, will also benefit.

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Another vote from the Vatican, but no Pope yet. The cable news networks reported on the latest round of black smoke within seconds of each other at 6:39amET. Fox News’ Shepard Smith and CNN’s Chris Cuomo led coverage from Rome on their respective networks. MNSBC covered the latest vote during “Morning Joe.”

The smoke initially appeared to be a light grey color, leading to some slight hedging on CNN at the very top of their report. “When you look at the smoke, it’s not as dark as it was last night. And that’s part of the mystery here,” Cuomo said. He introduced John Allen and Father Edward Beck and joked they were there “to share the blame if I’m wrong about the color of the smoke.”

The broadcast networks all began their special reports at 6:39amET. CBS’ Norah O’Donnell and ABC’s Josh Elliott anchored from Rome, while Savannah Guthrie and Matt Lauer anchored for NBC from New York, with Lester Holt contributing from Rome.

The conclave to elect the next Pope will begin Tuesday after morning mass. Here’s what the broadcast and cable networks have planned for coverage.

ABC’s Diane Sawyer will broadcast “World News” from the Vatican beginning this evening. Sawyer is joined in Rome by Terry Moran, Josh Elliott, David Wright, Cokie Roberts, Rob Claiborne and Cecilia Vega. The network plans to broadcast special reports for the cardinals’ twice-daily votes.

CBS’ Scott Pelley will also be live from Vatican City starting today. Norah O’Donnell and Charlie Rose will host “CBS This Morning” live from Vatican City, with CBS News correspondents Allen Pizzey and Mark Phillips contributing to coverage.

Chris Jansing and Lester Holt will lead coverage for NBC News and MSNBC from Rome.  Anne Thompson, Keir Simmons, Claudio Lavangna and George Weigel will also contribute to NBC-MSNBC coverage. Both networks will provide special reports for the cardinals votes. Jansing and Holt also led coverage of the last papal conclave in 2005, which Jansing talks about in a lengthy Q&A with Inside Cable News.

On Fox News, Shepard Smith will anchor from Rome. He will be joined by correspondents Amy Kellogg and Lauren Green to cover the conclave. Bryan Llenas will be reporting for Fox News Latino.

Chris Cuomo and Anderson Cooper will lead CNN’s coverage from Rome. Ben Wedeman, Miguel Marquez, Dan Rivers and Becky Anderson will report, along with CNN en Español’s Adriana Hauser and Jose Levy. CNN Vatican analyst John Allen will also contribute to coverage.

On NBC’s “Today” Friday, Matt Lauer and Al Roker decided to prank their co-workers. Taking a viral video to promote “The Last Exorcism 2″ as inspiration, the team got Natalie Morales, WNBC anchor Darlene Rodriquez and other staffers to look into a mirror, where a ghostly figure scared them.

WATCH:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

When they were in Los Angeles for the Academy Awards this week, “Good Morning America” news anchor and Los Angeles native Josh Elliott decided to take his buddy and fellow “GMA”er Sam Champion on a tour of his favorite local spots.

Yes, there was an In-N-Out Burger appearance… for breakfast.
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Anderson Cooper will receive the Vito Russo Award at the 24th annual GLAAD Media Awards, the New York Daily News reports. “Good Morning America” anchors Sam Champion, Lara Spencer and Josh Elliott will host the ceremony, which will be held on March 16 in New York.

The Vito Russo award, named for one of GLAAD’s founders, honors an openly gay media professional who has “made a significant difference in promoting equality.”

“By sharing his own experiences as a gay man, Anderson has reminded millions of Americans that LGBT people are part of their everyday lives and an integral part of our cultural fabric,” GLAAD president Herndon Graddick said in a statement. “He continues to raise the bar and set a new standard for journalists everywhere, and I’m proud to call him a friend.”

On the set of “Good Morning America” Wednesday, Robin Roberts took her seat at the anchor desk, adorned with a huge red bow, for the first time in 173 days with nervous anticipation.

“It felt good, to have butterflies after all this time. After doing the first block — like butter,” Roberts joked with TVNewser after the show. “It felt so right. I felt at ease.”

Today’s show marked the continuation of a return to a full workload for Roberts, who will be on the air a few days a week at first as she gets stronger. She is finished with her treatments, a result of a bone marrow transplant five months ago, though still under the watchful eye of doctors and nurses. The primary health concern now is her weakened immune system, which dictates behavior on the set: stashes of hand sanitizer tucked throughout the studio, elbow bumps instead of hugs for her co-workers.

It is the beginning of a new chapter for Roberts, who pushed to be strong enough to return before the Oscars. It was at that event last year — on February 26, 2012 –  that she began to feel sick, a feeling she described as “bone-weary fatigue.”

“From talking to my doctors, they said it would be a tremendous boost to know in a year’s time that I was back there and on the road to recovery,” Roberts says. “Well on the road to recovery.”

Roberts’ mix of excitement and nerves for Wednesday’s show was echoed by her co-hosts. Lara Spencer said she felt like it was Christmas morning. Josh Elliott said he and Roberts spent an hour on the phone last night to “marinate in our mutual insomnia.”

“I didn’t know what it was going to feel like. It came much quicker than all of us expected,” George Stephanopoulos said. “She knocked on my door a little after quarter to five this morning and just said, ‘you got my back today, right?’ and I said, ‘I got your back every day.’ And I could tell she was just set and ready to go.”

It was a happy change for the “GMA” team, who have been in a fluid state since Roberts — the show’s “team captain”– went on medical leave in September.

For the five months that she was off the air, ABC News president Ben Sherwood noted there was “no master plan,” but said the network’s approach to Roberts’ illness was influenced by the memory of Peter Jennings‘ battle with lung cancer.

“Peter went on the air one night and with a very hoarse voice announced that he was facing lung cancer and he would be back. And Peter never anchored another show,” said Sherwood, who was an ABC producer at the time. “We brought a lot of those lessons from that time — which was a really dark, tough time at ABC News — we brought a lot of those lessons to thinking about how we wanted to handle and approach [this].”

Sherwood was adamant that the show’s approach to covering the illness was dictated not by the competitive ratings battle with NBC’s “Today,” but by Roberts’ feeling that “her mess is her message.”

“This is not some television ploy. This is a real person having a real life experience, and we have tried to resonate as authentically with her, and with the show and the team and the audience, as

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