News
Amidst Robin Roberts Health Battles GMA Tops The Today Show As Number #1 Morning Show By Widest Margin in 18 Years!

Courtesy/ABC
It’s been a heartbreaking and emotional few weeks for Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts, her fans, and loyal viewers to the morning program. Roberts had abruptly left the series in anticipation of an upcoming bone marrow transplant in her battle with the blood disorder myelodysplastic syndrome. Thursday, she told her Twitter followers that she was: “Back home in NYC. Will rest a few days. Doctors orders to put on a lil weight. That’s a first. Transplant now scheduled for next week. Onward.” Roberts had delayed her transplant a week in order to attend the funeral of her 88-year-old mother. Earlier this week, Roberts wrote a heart-tugging post on her mother’s passing: “Today I was supposed to be admitted to the hospital… instead I am here in Mississippi standing proudly with my family as we honor our beloved mother and celebrate her life. When I return to NYC and walk through those hospital doors next week momma will be right there with me.”
A week ago, she left for medical leave a day early in order to be with her dying mother. Roberts rushed from New York to rural Mississippi, which was just starting to clean up after being battered by Hurricane Isaac. But throughout Roberts’s personal turmoil, Good Morning America rose to new heights for the ratings week of August 27-31! In fact, GMA bested The Today Show. Below is the official press release from ABC and the interesting numbers on GMA’s stellar performance!
Good Morning America won the week of August 27, 2012, ranking as the No. 1 morning newscast in both Total Viewers (5.386 million) and Adults 25-54 (1.969 million), according to Nielsen Media Research. GMA outperformed NBC’s Today Show (4.503 million and 1.817 million, respectively) by +883,000 Total Viewers and +152,000 Adults 25-54, scoring its largest margins over Today in more than 18 years in both measures – since w/o 5/16/94 and w/o 8/15/94, respectively.
GMA has ranked No. 1 in Total Viewers for the last 3 weeks and in 8 of the last 10 (trailing an Olympics-fueled Today during the other 2 weeks). GMA has also ranked No. 1 in Adults 25-54 in 3 of the last 7 weeks.
GMA was completely dominant in its victory over Today during the week, not only beating the NBC program in all 5 head-to-head telecasts in both Total Viewers (Mon: +714,000, Tues: +1.018 million, Wed: +728,000, Thurs: +989,000 and Fri: +971,000) and Adults 25-54 (Mon: +39,000, Tues: +153,000, Wed: +155,000, Thurs: +204,000 and Fri: +213,000), but owning the Top 5 telecasts of the week in Total Viewers and Top 4 in Adults 25-54. Furthermore, for the first time in more than 18 years, GMA beat Today in all 5 telecasts in both Nielsen measures – since w/o 8/8/94.
Do you think GMA is the better show than Today Show at this point in time? Have you been following the heartbreaking turn events for Robin Roberts and her ongoing health battle and the loss of her mother? Share your thoughts here!
Beyond the Gates
RATINGS: ‘Beyond the Gates’ Inches Closer to ‘General Hospital’ in Total Viewers

The latest ratings are out for the week of October 26-30, 2026 and the big takeaways include: that CBS daytime’s Beyond the Gates was separated by only 23,000 viewers behind third place (of the soaps) General Hospital! For the last several weeks, Beyond the Gates has been closing the gap on this year’s winner for Outstanding Daytime Drama Series, and continuing to best GH in the key demos.
According to the latest Nielsen ratings breakdown from Soap Opera Network, the final week of October brought Beyond the Gates 1.790 million on average tuning-in and the show set a season high in total viewers. Meanwhile, General Hospital hit a new season low! The long-running ABC soap had 1.813 million for the week, and once again the series did not go over the 2 million mark.
Meanwhile, in the key Women 18-49 demo, Beyond the Gates was firmly ahead of GH with a rating share of 0.21, while General Hospital had 0.17 rating share.Then, in the key Women 25-54 demo, Beyond the Gates was once again ahead of the ABC soap with a ratings share for that demo at 0.30 while GH came in with 0.26.

Photo: CBS
MORE BY THE NUMBERS
In addition and comparatively, Beyond the Gates +22,000 viewers week-to-week, and had the largest gains in viewership year-to-year in daytime TV with +267,000 from this in 2025.. However, General Hospital seems to be going in reverse. The show was down -56,000 viewers week-over-week and down -22,000 year-over-year .
BEYOND THE GATES
Let’s take a look at some of the storylines that had people tuning-in to Beyond the Gates during the ratings week:
Hayley (Marquita Goings) attempted a massive shocker regarding her pregnancy and tried to use it to extract money from Bill Hamilton (Timon Kyle Durrett). Although, Bill saw right through her game, he demanded a paternity test, and made it clear he has no intention of raising the child—planning instead to pay her off to take the baby and leave. Meanwhile, Hayley confided her plan to her cousin Randy (Maurice P. Kerry).
Jacob Hawthorne (Jibre Hordges) and Naomi Hamilton (Arielle Prepetit) clashed over Jacob’s ongoing investigation into The Impaler, causing significant strain in their marriage. At the same time, Smitty (Mike Manning) considered taking matters into his own hands—including potentially heading to Mexico for evidence—while Martin Richardson (Brandon Claybon) worried about what comes next.

Photo: ABC
GENERAL HOSPITAL
Over at General Hospital for the ratings period, the story served up included:
Carly (Laura Wright) and Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) teamed up to investigate what really happened to Jack Brennan (Chris McKenna). Later, Danny (Asher Antonyzyn) leads them to Jack’s dead body.
Jude (Wil Traval) dropped a bombshell claim to Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn); that he is Phoebe’s father, while Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) and Chase (Josh Swickard) signed their divorce papers.
Then, Danny caught Rocco (Finn Carr) and Scout (Kayden Brenna Tokarski) sharing a kiss, plus the shocking return of Heather Webber (Alley Mills) capped the week.
Now the questions become; without having much promotional synergy in the ABC day-part to draw more eyeballs it is not helping but hurting General Hospital. It seems Beyond the Gates is also a benefactor of a one-two-three punch of CBS soaps (Y&R, B&B and BTG) and promotion.
However, that still doesn’t take away the fact that Beyond the Gates is close to besting GH in all ratings category as they go head-to-head in some markets across the country.
So, are you excited to see Beyond the Gates climb in the ratings? Are you concerned for General Hospital? Do you think they can stave off Beyond the Gates in total viewers or will the upstart soap overtake them in the next ratings report? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
General Hospital
Antonio Sabáto Jr. Breaks Silence on His Son’s Arrest for Fatal Hit-and-Run

Antonio Sabáto Jr., the former Jagger Cates of General Hospital and GH: Night Shift, and the former Dante Damiano of The Bold and the Beautiful has issued his first public statement since the incident involving his son, Jack’s arrest in Alaska for a fatal hit-and-run.
Jack is the son of Sabáto Jr. and Oscar-nominated actress Virginia Madsen, and according to court documents obtained by KTUU Jack, was allegedly driving a white Chevy Tahoe when he hit and killed Carl Simmonds, 42, near an intersection in Anchorage around 5:35 a.m. on Monday, November 9.
The reports indicated that Jack fled the scene — but later decided to called the cops to say he hit “something” that “suddenly appeared in the road” while he was “doing late-night DoorDashing.”

Photo: NBC
Now, Antonio has taken to his Instagram breaking his silence on the situation, sharing, “At this time, my family and I are navigating an extremely sensitive and deeply personal matter.”
He added, “As a father, my love for my children remains unconditional, and my priority is the well-being of my family. We ask that the public and members of the media honor our privacy during this difficult time and keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.”
The soap alum concluded, “I also wish to extend my heartfelt condolences to the family and loved ones of the gentleman who tragically lost his life. My thoughts and prayers are with them as well. We sincerely appreciate your compassion, understanding, and respect for the privacy of everyone affected.”
Jack Sabáto was arraigned in court on Tuesday, November 10 with bail set at $5,000, and a no-driving order and the potential of $5,000 penalty fees if he fails to attend future court appearances.
Antonio is the father to Jack, 34, daughter, Mina Sabato, 24 and son, Antonio Sabáto III, 15.
This is a developing story. You can check out Antonio’s official statement below.
So, let us know your thoughts on this tragic hit-and-run, which claimed the life of another man, and Antonio’s statement, via the comment section below.
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Breaking News
‘Days of our Lives’ Veteran James Reynolds Reveals Parkinson’s Diagnosis
Days of our Lives long-running cast member James Reynolds revealed on the November 10 edition of Entertainment Tonight that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and his character of Abe Carver will now be going through an on-screen Parkinson’s battle as well.
Speaking with ET’s Nischelle Turner, the 80-year-old actor and Daytime Emmy winner shared how he attempted to hide the warning signs dating back to 15-20 years ago when he would have, “What they call the hallucinations. My wife (Lissa) would say, ‘You were hitting me last night in bed,’ and I would say, ‘What?!’ I was having these really horrible dreams.” Reynolds also added that he realized falling out of bed was an early symptom of Parkinson’s too.
Discussing the on-going tremors that have become more noticeable over time especially in hands, James shared that when he finally told the Days of our Lives cast they were nothing but “extraordinarily helpful and supportive.”

Photo: ET
SCREEN LIFE TO MIRROR REAL LIFE
Now with DAYS about to launch into Abe’s Parkinson’s storyline, Reynolds hopes that he can turn his experience into something positive by encouraging others facing the disease to keep fighting. During the sit-down, Reynolds co-star Jackée Harry (Paulina Price) recalls her reaction to learning of Reynolds’ real-life diagnosis and how she has continued to search for new treatments to inform James about.
Although Parkinson’s disease currently has no cure, there are medications and treatments can help those manage symptoms and improve quality of life. The condition progresses at a different pace from individual to individual.
As discussed in his conversation with ET, Reynolds cited Michael J. Fox and Alan Alda as two high-profile celebrities who have brought awareness to the disease.

Photo: JPI
In story on DAYS, Abe in recent weeks had been experiencing tremors which led to seek help and a diagnosis Dr. Kayla Johnson (Mary Beth Evans). Soon Abe and others will find out of his battle with Parkinson’s. Although on the promo for this week’s DAYS, Abe is seen telling Kayla, that he will do something, “when the time is right.”
James Reynolds is one of the most prolific performers, being the longest-running Black Actor in a role on a television series, not to mention his aforementioned Lead Actor Daytime Emmy win in 2018, and being inducted in 2025 into the Daytime Emmy Gold and Silver Society of honorees.
You can check out James’ in-depth conversation on his Parkinson’s diagnosis below.
Share your thoughts for James after learning of his health battle, and what do you think of Days of our Lives incorporating the disease into Abe Carver’s Salem storyline? Let us know in the comment section.
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GMA has the talent, style and information that those of us just waking up needs. It doesnt preech but informs the viewer. Great show, great people and they like and support each other. Today has separate people not a team and the abrupt firing of a true talent Ann Curry is going to continue to hurt them for a long time to come.#GMA#TeamRobin
I agree. Once they let Ann go, I left also. Today has become very “silly” in their programming. I am looking for more mature news program in the mornings not who is cooking and singing on the plaza.
After 17 years of viewing, I stopped watching the Today Show when they unceremoniously dumped Ann Curry. Completely disrespectful to her and she was the least of their problems. Now, I love GMA; they genuinely seem to like each other and have fun together, and their format and segments are a lot sharper than the Today Show. The Today Show got stuck in a style and was late to change with the times, while GMA just kept getting better and better. I had wanted to switch earlier this year but felt loyal to Today… until they showed zero loyalty to Ann so I figured why should I bother.
Was a Today fan back to Brokaw/Pauley. No more. Ann was treated shamefully. Who are they going to blame now?
I watched Today for 20 years, but they changed and began doing “entertainment” news, so I stopped watching. When I have a chance to watch, I catch GMA — and I’m enjoying it! Seriously I just could no longer enjoy the Today show — with Matt and Al being chuckle buddies, with Ann being dumped (I could tell Matt and his pals did NOT like her) and then long tall Sally-vannah being promoted . . . it was just too much drama and not enough news. GMA fills in nicely and has already surpassed my expectations! Biggest problem at Today could be Matt Lauer (or GE owning NBC?!) Anyway congrats GMA!!!
GMA and Robin Roberts are far supperior the the Today show, in fact Matt Laur has no appeal, they should of gotten rid of him.
The sight of Matt Lauer makes me sick!
Poor Ann Curry, dumped because of him!
I like Al and Natalie, but refuse to watch
because of poor Ann!
I was seeing too much Kardashians and such every morning on Today. Don’t they know that every time I hear the name Kardashian, I turn the channel!
I haven’t watched the TODAY show for years. I really don’t care for Matt Lauer, can’t stand Al Roker and that other “100th Birthday Guy.” Much as I like Ann Curry, she really wasn’t a good fit as morning show host.
So why has this show been #1 for so long? I’ve always liked GMA or, at times, CBS Morning Show better. It’s nice to see GMA finally beating out TODAY.
GMA is my favorite. NBC needs to bring in an all new team to the Today Show. GMA has the younger viewers, while the Today show has the older viewers.
Today ignore moment of silence for 9/11 to do live interview with Kardashians’ mom, Kris Jenner. What is going on over there?! Another example of why I no longer watch — and never will watch again.