Getting competitive again in the morning over at ABC

NEW YORK -- From the desk where they sit for the opening of "Good Morning America" each weekday, Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer can check out the competition just by looking up.

Above the cameras, behind the gaggle of technicians, through the studio window that looks over Times Square, the giant faces of Katie Couric and Matt Lauer of NBC's "Today" appear on a Jumbotron screen.

They tower over Broadway, much like "Today" has towered over morning television. Yet now, for the first time since Sawyer and Gibson teamed to resuscitate a wheezing franchise, "Today" has reason to sneak a peek at "Good Morning America."

The ABC duo has just finished its best quarter in the ratings. The show feels focused and confident, and there's a sense that it captured the public mood and took greater advantage of its visibility after Sept. 11 than its rivals.

There were days when a glance at the Jumbotron confirmed this for Gibson.

"I was looking up there and thought, 'Yeah, we're more on top of this than they are,'" he said. "The two of us are old farts and we've had too many years in the news division, but it pays off sometimes."

He sat on a studio couch and talked about "Good Morning America" just after the cameras were turned off one day last week. Sawyer takes off her black high heels and pads around in her stockinged feet.

"Good Morning America" was in total disarray, one week even slipping behind CBS into third place in the ratings, when Gibson was coaxed back. He had done the show for 11 years, moved on, but felt loyal. He would do it if Sawyer would. Three years ago this Friday, they teamed up for the first time.

In its 1980s heyday with David Hartman, "Good Morning America" was a part of ABC's entertainment division. In 1997, it was shifted to news, which at first didn't know what to do with the program.

Led by executive producer Shelley Ross, who started with Sawyer and Gibson, "Good Morning America" has become sleeker and more news-oriented. It has tapped the resources of ABC News the way it hadn't before.