Entertainment

Paula Deen’s appearance helps ‘Today’ beat ‘GMA’

A tearful plea on Wednesday to Matt Lauer for mercy by hot potato chef Paula Deen helped the beleaguered “Today” show beat “Good Morning America” for the first time since Hurricane Sandy last November.

According to early calculations, “Today” logged 4.84 million viewers while “GMA” was close behind with 4.67 million.