After nearly a month away following her mother’s mysterious disappearance and the nation’s search, Savannah Guthrie has officially returned to Today, marking an emotional moment for both the show and its fans
Anchors at the long-running A.M. franchise have grappled with many challenges over the years, ranging from personal health issues to talent transitions, but this past month has presented a set of circumstances that are believed to be without parallel: Nancy Guthrie, mother of longtime “Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, has been missing since January 31, and an agonizing search is in progress around her home in Arizona, leaving producers not only to manage coverage thoughtfully, but also to ponder how to fill Savannah Guthrie’s seat for an undefined interim.
“This situation is tragically unprecedented, and I think it’s really hard to compare anything else to what Savannah and her family are dealing with right now,” says Katie Couric, who famously worked as a co- anchor at “Today” between 1991 and 2006, during a recent interview. “I do think morning shows are living, breathing organisms, and when something happens to a member of these very close-knit teams, it is devastating, I think, to everyone. I think the ‘Today Show’ team is doing the best they possibly can, and it must be excruciating to try to carry on, but also to cover a story about a beloved colleague.”
How has “Today” handled the matter? Hoda Kotb, the veteran “Today” co-anchor who left full-time duties early last year, has rejoined the show on an interim basis, and is holding forth with Craig Melvin. Kotb will stay while Guthrie is with her family, according to a person familiar with the matter. Guthrie is expected to return to the show on her own timeline, even if she requires a significant period to feel ready to do so, this person says.
Each morning, Melvin and Kotb inform viewers that their colleague “remains with her family,” and typically offer a segment about the search for Nancy Guthrie. In the case’s earliest days, the Guthrie story led the “Today” news report, but in more recent broadcasts, the anchors have tackled severe weather, the arrest of former Prince Andrew in the U.K. and the recent State of the Union speech before turning to the Guthrie case. Liz Kreutz, an NBC News correspondent, remains on the ground in Arizona to keep up on the latest details. “Today” has also offered an array of stories about people lending support to the Guthrie family, including a sorority at Savannah Guthrie’s alma mater in Arizona and neighbors of Nancy Guthrie who keep looking out for new clues.
Interest in the case remains high. NBC News broke into programming with a special report earlier this week, anchored by Kotb and Melvin, detailing a $1 million reward from the Guthrie family for their mothers’ recovery. Savannah Guthrie delivered an emotional message asking for information on her mother, while nodding to the dire circumstances surrounding her absence.
Having Kotb on hand offers a viable solution for NBC and “Today” producers. She’s already affiliated with the show, and adding someone new to the mix during such a difficult moment could be ill advised The introduction of someone less known to viewers to fill in more regularly for Guthrie — even on an interim basis — could alienate the audience, which has a years-long relationship with her and doesn’t want to see her treated poorly, particularly under duress. The first two hours of “Today” generated nearly $203.5 million in 2025, according to Guideline, a tracker of ad spending.
“They are fortunate that Hoda, who is a familiar and beloved face, is able to step in so seamlessly under very difficult circumstances,” says Couric. “I think they are trying to handle it as well as they possibly can.”
Amid an emotional and chaotic era for the program come some potential reasons to take a breath: Support for Savannah Guthrie and interest in her family’s plight have buoyed “Today” even as its staff tries to master difficult terrain.
Morning-show audiences have tuned in more to “Today” in recent weeks. Viewership for “Today” for the five days ended February 20 rose 19%, or 517,000 viewers, according to data from Nielsen, compared to the year-earlier period. That viewership hike follows one of 30% in the prior week and one of 23% in week before that.
Audiences for main rival “Good Morning America” on ABC ticked up 6% for the five days ended February 20, while viewership for “CBS Mornings” was off 14%.
It’s not clear how much of a boost can be attributed to the Winter Olympics. In 2022, “Good Morning America” won more viewers overall than “Today” during NBC’s first week of coverage of the extravaganza from Beijing, the first time it was able to do so in the first week of a Winter Olympics in more than three decades. Next week’s ratings report could be a pivotal one for the program, as it will reveal how much of the surge at “Today” has been due to a halo effect tied to the Olympics and how much the Guthrie crisis has galvanized the potential audience for the show.
There also appears to be an internal loyalty to Savannah Guthrie, who has served as the “glue” of the program since being elevated to an anchor in “Today’s” flagship 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. hours in 2012. Guthrie has proven instrumental in helping “Today” muscle past some difficult moments.
She replaced Ann Curry, who exited in an emotional moment that soured some viewers on the program and boosted interest in “GMA,” and played a critical role during a rebuilding period for the show. It was Guthrie and Kotb who were tasked on the morning of November 29, 2017 , with informing viewers that longtime anchor Matt Lauer had been ousted by NBC, which cited “inappropriate sexual behavior,” a claim that he denied. She has kept up with the demanding morning news role even while over the years juggling an eye injury resulting from a mishap at home, and, more recently, surgery on her vocal cords, which she has used daily for years in service to NBC.
She has helped NBC in some critical spots as well, and not just during Election Night or special reports. She presents NBC’s coverage of the Thanksgiving Day Parade, a spectacle that has taken on more economic importance to the network in recent years as advertisers hunt for programs that draw large, simultaneous crowds. In 2020, she boosted NBC after it made a controversial decision to hold a town hall with President Donald Trump opposite a similar event by then-Democratic candidate Joe Biden, which was being televised by ABC. Guthrie kept a tight rein on the proceedings. “You’re the president, you’re not like somebody’s crazy uncle who can retweet whatever,” Guthrie told President Trump after asking why he had recently retweeted a conspiracy theory.
“These are serious times we are living in,” she told Variety in January of 2020 while speaking about her “Today” role. “You can start interviewing the Vice President of the United States, and you can end with Oprah on a beach. That can happen. That does happen all the time. That’s about really measuring what the audience expects, and I think we try to approach the news with substance and sophistication, and I don’t think we are flashy.”
In the earliest hours of the morning, before the “Today” anchors get to the studio and get ready to go on the air, you can sometimes find Guthrie in the hair and make-up room, talking to reporters and correspondents like Kirsten Welker about the nuances of one of the stories set to air in the first minutes of the program. Staffers at “Today” would like to hear her voice filling that room once again.
SHE THOUGHT KICKING A PREGNANT WIFE IN THE HOSPITAL WOULD END THE MARRIAGE — UNTIL THE BILLIONAIRE HUSBAND SAW THE TRUTH WITH HIS OWN EYES.
The low, vibrating chime of Marcus’s phone seemed to echo in the sudden, absolute silence of the VIP hospital suite. Outside the large glass windows, the distant murmur of the charity fundraiser gala continued, a stark contrast to the thick, suffocating tension that had gripped the room.
Marcus slowly pulled the phone from his tuxedo pocket. His eyes never left Isabella as his thumb swiped across the screen, playing the high-definition security footage sent directly by his head of security.
On the screen, there was no ambiguity. There was no "self-defense." The footage clearly showed Isabella lunging at me, her face twisted in a mask of pure malice as she shoved my seven-month-pregnant body into the side table. It showed the champagne glass shattering, and most horrifying of all, it captured the exact second her pointed red heel drove brutally into my abdomen while I lay helpless on the floor.
A muscle ticked violently in Marcus’s jaw. The cold, calculated billionaire who ran Thorne Enterprises—the man who prided himself on being five steps ahead of every competitor, every investor, and every enemy—looked completely paralyzed by the sheer weight of his own blindness.
"Marcus, honey, you can't believe whatever she's trying to play at," Isabella stammered, her voice rising an octave as she took a tentative step toward him, her hands reaching out to touch his lapel. "Khloe has been unstable for weeks. She’s jealous because she knows you don't love her. She staged this! She threw herself into that table just to make me look like a monster!"
"Get away from her," Marcus whispered.
The words were so quiet, so devoid of emotion, that Isabella froze mid-step.
"What?" she blinked, her polished, glamorous facade cracking completely.
"I said," Marcus raised his head, his piercing dark eyes locking onto hers with a lethal, suffocating intensity that made the gala coordinator behind him take a step back into the hallway, "get your hands off me, and step away from my wife."
"Marcus—"
"Michael!" Marcus roared, his voice cutting through the room like a physical blow.
Instantly, three burly men in dark suits and communication earpieces pushed past the coordinator into the room. The leader, Michael, looked at the blood on the floor near my maternity gown and his expression hardened into stone.
"Sir?" Michael asked, his hand resting near his holster.
"Secure Isabella Rossi," Marcus commanded, his voice trembling with a terrifying blend of absolute authority and suffocating rage. "Take her to the holding room in the basement. If she attempts to leave, if she attempts to make a single phone call, use whatever force is necessary. Notify the Chief of Police that I am filing charges for attempted murder and felony assault on a pregnant woman."
"Attempted murder?!" Isabella shrieked as Michael and another guard gripped her upper arms, effortlessly pinning her arms behind her back. Her expensive red dress twisted around her frame as she struggled against their grip. "Marcus, you can't do this to me! My father is your primary investor! If you lock me up, the Rossi Group will liquidate every single share of Thorne Enterprises by midnight! You'll be ruined!"
Marcus didn't even look at her as she was dragged out of the room, her high heels scuffing loudly against the hardwood floor, her screams fading down the private VIP corridor.
The moment the doors hissed shut behind her, Marcus dropped to his knees on the carpet, completely ignoring the shards of broken glass that sliced into the expensive fabric of his tuxedo. His hands were shaking violently as he reached out toward me, but he stopped short of touching me, as if terrified that his very presence would cause me more pain.
"Khloe..." he breathed, his voice raw, stripped entirely of the smooth arrogance he usually carried. "Khloe, look at me. I’m here. I’m right here. Don't close your eyes."
A searing, blinding pain tore across my lower abdomen, making me gasp for air. I tightly curled into a ball on the floor, my fingers digging into my white maternity gown, which was rapidly staining with a terrifying, deep crimson hue.
"The... the baby," I choked out, a tear spilling over my eyelid and mixing with the sweat on my forehead. "Marcus... he’s not moving. Please... help him."
"Medical team!" Marcus screamed toward the door, his composure breaking entirely as he saw the blood. "Get the Chief of Obstetrics up here right now! If anyone hesitates, I will burn this entire hospital to the ground!"
Within seconds, the room was swarmed by medical staff in blue scrubs. A gurney was pushed to my side, and I was carefully lifted onto it. As the world began to blur around the edges from the sheer agony and blood loss, I felt a strong, calloused hand wrap tightly around mine.
Marcus was running alongside the gurney as they pushed me toward the emergency operating theater. His face was pale, his eyes wide with a horrific realization that had come far too late.
"I've got you, Khloe," he pleaded, his voice cracking as he squeezed my hand. "I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Just hold on. Please, just hold on for our son."
I looked up at the harsh fluorescent lights of the ceiling as the heavy double doors of the operating room swung open. Our son, he had called him. For months, Marcus had treated this pregnancy like a corporate obligation, a cold arrangement to secure his family’s legacy while he allowed Isabella to whisper poison in his ear. But as the darkness finally rushed in to swallow me whole, I knew one thing with absolute certainty: if my baby didn't survive this night, there would be nothing left of Marcus Thorne’s world to salvage.
