ABC announced Thursday that the former "Today" show anchor will be guest host next week on "Good Morning America," the rival wake-up show that has been rising in the ratings.
She will sub for the vacationing Robin Roberts for a week, teaming with George Stephanopoulos.
Couric was co-host of "Today" in December 1995, when the NBC show's streak began. "Today" has won every week in the ratings since then, 850 consecutive and counting, according to the Nielsen company.
Yet frisky "GMA" has been making noise lately. Last week the ABC show was only 137,000 viewers behind "Today" (an average of 4.98 million to 4.84 million), the closest the two shows have been since 2008.
"This has been one of the longest marathons of all time," said Tom Cibrowski, senior executive producer in charge of "Good Morning America." ''There will eventually be a time when the No. 1 spot turns over. We strive every day to take over the No. 1 position. We never stop working on that."
He's not making any predictions about next week, but the curiosity factor of Couric in a new morning chair seems sure to pull in some viewers.
Couric was co-host of NBC's "Today" for 15 years before leaving the network in 2006. Before jumping to ABC last year, she was at CBS, where she anchored the "Evening News."
The winning streak has a big psychological impact in one of the most important parts of the day on television for the broadcast networks. Morning shows are hugely profitable at a time of declining viewership, and none has been more of a cash cow than "Today."
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