‘Good Morning America’ Turns 50: The Moments That Made ‘GMA’ History, For Better or Worse
Good Morning America turns 50 years old on Monday, November 3, having debuted on this day in 1975, with David Hartman and Nancy Dussault hosting that inaugural broadcast on ABC. But today’s GMA is a far cry from the morning show of yore, as current co-anchor Robin Roberts explained to The Hollywood Reporter recently.
“I mean, it’s changed,” she said. “America’s not the same as it was 50 years ago. And I think we’ve adapted to the the needs and wants of our audience, and we talk about those things that have changed, the one thing that hasn’t changed is the audience, our focus on them.”
And as on-air talent have come and go and world events and cultural trends have shaped the program, GMA has seen highlights and lowlights over its half-century-long history. Here are our picks for the most impactful.
9. Dan Harris suffers an on-air panic attack (2004)
GMA viewers in 2004 witnessed a life-changing moment for fill-in news anchor Dan Harris. He suffered a panic attack during a live broadcast, later explaining, “I was overtaken by a massive, irresistible blast of fear. It felt like the world was ending. My heart was thumping. I was gasping for air. I had pretty much lost the ability to speak.”
That frightening moment led Harris to reevaluate his life and career, and he became a meditation expert with a book and a podcast on the subject, both titled 10% Happier.
8. Good Morning America hits Times Square (1999)
For a quarter-century, GMA greeted America from the Times Square studio it moved into in 1999. ABC built the $75 million studio to capture the same on-the-street energy that NBC’s Today achieved when it built a $15.3 studio in Rockefeller Center five years prior, according to The New York Times.
“I just remember … the energy and just looking around, going, ‘This is our home?’” Roberts said in June 2025, as the show prepared to relocate to ABC News’ Hudson Square HQ. “All these years later, it still feels that way.”
7. Lisa McRee and Kevin Newman bring bad energy to Good Morning America (1998)
After Charles Gibson and Joan Lunden left their posts as anchors, producers tried to recapture their repartee with a new pair in 1998: Lisa McRee and Kevin Newman. But that duo lasted less than a year in the GMA chairs, with one columnist saying the two anchors had “non-existent chemistry” and “were like strangers sharing an elevator.”
6. Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes’s romance goes public (2022)
The third-hour show GMA3 dragged the Good Morning America brand into the tabloids in 2022 when it was revealed that co-anchors Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes were in a romantic relationship while still married to their respective now-ex-spouses. The workplace affair proved too much of a spectacle for ABC News, which suspended Robach and Holmes and then let them go weeks later.
5. GMA celebrates one year of beating Today in ratings (1983)
In 1983, Nielsen reported that Good Morning America, then hosted by Hartman and Lunden, had outranked Today, a more established morning show, in the ratings for 52 consecutive weeks. “I would be less than candid if I didn’t say that naturally we’re pleased that there is a continuation of having more people watch us than watch other programs,” Hartman said at the time, per UPI.
4. GMA’s 9/11 coverage earns commendations (2001)
In 2001, ABC News won a Peabody Award for its coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “On September 11, 2001, the news organizations of the American Broadcasting Company — individuals and special units — exhibited the finest aspects of broadcast journalism,” the Peabody jurors wrote. “Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson displayed an extraordinarily professional demeanor to the viewers of Good Morning America, even as the enormity of events unfolded before our eyes.”
3. Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer reverse GMA’s fortunes (1999)
After the aforementioned McRee-Newman debacle, ABC re-enlisted Gibson, Newman’s predecessor, and paired him with Sawyer, Gibson’s co-anchor on 20/20 at the time. Gibson and Sawyer were expected to host GMA on an interim basis, but each stayed for several years before their respective stints anchoring ABC’s evening news broadcast. And during that time, the pair helped return GMA to a profitable operation for ABC News, according to NPR.
2. GMA ends Today’s record-breaking streak (2012)
In one week of 2012, Good Morning America edged out Today with 31,000 more viewers, ending the rival show’s unprecedented 16-year winning streak. “All of us at ABC News salute the dynamic team at Good Morning America, who never sleep and who care so deeply about the program,” then-ABC News president Ben Sherwood said at the time, per Adweek. “Of course, we congratulate our friends at Today for the greatest winning streak in broadcasting history and for their excellence and leadership during this historic run.”
1. Robin Roberts starts her record-setting co-anchor job (2005)
After joining GMA as a contributor in 1995 and moving up to news anchor in 2002, Roberts became the show’s co-anchor in 2005, initially joining Gibson and Sawyer. George Stephanopoulos became her co-anchor her in 2009, and now they’re the longest-running anchor duo in morning TV, according to The Hollywood Reporter, marking an incredible achievement for Roberts and for the GMA legacy.
“When I think about GMA, I think about family. I think about our family, and I think about families that are watching us, and families who have watched us for generations,” Roberts told the magazine. “You’ll get people that will come in, and they’re they’re adults, and they said, I’ve been watching GMA since I was a kid because my mom had it on, and now they’re watching it with their kids.”
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