Hoda Kotb has resumed her role on the Today show as Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie, remains missing from the air.
Kotub, who will leave NBC in January 2025 after 26 years, replaced his former colleague on Monday morning.
“Savannah remains in Arizona with her family, so Hoda will be joining us,” Craig Melvin told viewers, telling Kotb how “appreciated” he was to have her by his side and put his hand on her arm.
“You know what, Craig?” Kotb, 61, asked. “We always talk about the show as a family. We’re family and I’m part of the family. We’re in it for each other, so it’s nice to be together.”
“Well then, let’s go with that!” she declared.
Later in the show, Melvin, 46, opened up about his struggle to “get over” his best friend’s family crisis.
“Hoda joins us this morning as our ‘Today’ family continues to journey through uncharted territory, balancing the usual updates and search for Savannah’s mom with all the other stories of the day. But we know the situation is far from normal,” Melvin explained.
More than a week after Nancy was reported missing from her home in Tucson, Arizona, he asked fans to “give grace as they continue to do this.”
Kotub, who returned last week for an emotional segment on the “Today” show, added, “Savannah and her family are my priority in all of this. On top of that, I have work to do.”
Carson Daly put his hand on Ms. Kotb’s shoulder and said, “We’re going to do our best, but it’s certainly not easy to do our job. We’re obviously doing it for her.”
“We’re able to do this because we know that’s exactly what Savannah wants us to do,” Al Roker said.
When Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones joined as co-hosts, the former said, “We all keep Savannah and her family in our hearts and prayers.”
She and Jones, 47, highlighted “kind messages of support” for Nancy and her loved ones.
The 84-year-old man was last seen on the night of January 31 and is believed to have been abducted.
As the desperate search for the matriarch intensifies, Savannah and her siblings, Annie and Camron Guthrie, appeal to Nancy’s potential kidnappers in multiple emotional videos.
Savannah, which withdrew from hosting the ongoing Winter Olympics, promised in its latest argument that “we will pay” for an alleged ransom demand of $6 million in Bitcoin.
No suspects have yet been named, and Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said at a news conference Thursday that “we are actively investigating all of them.”
The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for “information leading to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie and/or the arrest and conviction of those involved in her disappearance.”
