Did Sarah Palin Get Revenge on Katie Couric?

TV ratings show Palin and Couric were both winners in their morning-news showdown; Palin scored the bragging rights with a first-place showing for Today

Previously on Sarah Palin vs. Katie Couric…

Katie asked Sarah what newspapers she read. Sarah accused Katie of "exploiting" her fame. Meanwhile, in Manhattan, the morning-news ratings war heated up. Katie signed on to guest host the surging Good Morning America. NBC announced Sarah would sit in at top-dog Today, where not-coincidentally Katie used to work. Katie and Sarah went talking-head to talking-head on Tuesday. Sarah's daughter Bristol predicted "a pretty big bump the ratings" for her mother's stint.

Was Bristol right? Was Sarah victorious? Was Katie defeated?

The dramatically unsatisfying soap-opera cliffhanger answer is that everybody won.

As Bristol Palin correctly guessed, her mother's presence on Tuesday's Today pushed the show's viewership up from Monday, to 5.5 million viewers, the early Nielsen stats show. (E! and Today are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)

Couric, however, was hardly defeated.

GMA was up almost as much from Monday to Tuesday as Today was. Also, the ABC show got ever closer to pulling even with the long-reigning NBC program.

Palin's already moved on from the morning wars, while Couric's due to remain at GMA through Friday.

Will these two meet again? Will Palin become a full-time member of the "lamestream media?" Will Couric return to regularly working at the crack of predawn? 

Stay tuned for the next exciting episode…