NBC’s “Today” anchors took a few minutes Friday to reflect on their colleague Savannah Guthrie’s visit to the set the day before. She made her first appearance at the show’s studio in New York’s Rockefeller Center since her mother, Nancy Guthrie, went missing in late January.
“I think we should have met her,” Al Roker told the assembled group, which included Carson Daly, Laura Jarrett, Craig Melvin and Dylan Dreyer.
The co-host made her first appearance on NBC since her mother, Nancy, was abducted on January 31 and visited with colleagues. The case remains unsolved and authorities have not released a person of interest.
“Savannah Guthrie stopped by the studio this morning to meet with and thank her Today colleagues,” NBC News said in a statement. “She plans to return to the show while it’s on the air, but right now she’s focused on supporting her family and bringing Nancy home.”
Casters said Guthrie retains many of her best qualities. “She’s still Savannah. She’s still funny. She’s still telling jokes,” Jarrett said.
The long-running AM series anchor has dealt with many challenges over the years, from personal health issues to talent moves, but in recent months he has faced a set of circumstances that seem like no other. The agonizing search for Nancy Guthrie around her Arizona home has been going on for weeks, forcing producers to not only carefully manage coverage, but also to think through how to fill Savannah Guthrie’s seat during an undetermined interim period.
How did “Today” deal with this issue? Veteran Today co-anchor Hoda Kotb, who stepped down from full-time duties early last year, has returned to the show on an interim basis and is working hard alongside Craig Melvin. Kotb plans to stay on while Guthrie is with his family, a person familiar with the matter said. Guthrie is expected to return to the show on his own timeline, this source says, even if it takes a significant period of time before he feels ready to do so. On some days, Shinelle Jones co-anchored with Melvin.
The group also discussed how Mr. Dreyer had a group of about 100 Today staffers, anchors and crew members pray together. “We all feel helpless in this situation. When I feel helpless, I pray,” Dryer said. “We asked for a miracle. If you don’t ask, you won’t get it. But I think we needed peace and comfort.”
Daley pointed out that Guthrie did not make any prepared remarks and merely spoke with emotion. “She came in the middle without saying a word, spoke from the heart, said the most perfect words imaginable, and looked this entire family in the eyes.” He added, “Her grace is second to none under pressure.”
Many viewers continued to watch the show even after NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics ended. Over the five-day period ending Feb. 27, “Today” averaged 3.32 million viewers overall and 638,000 among viewers ages 25 to 54, the audience most coveted by news advertisers. Overall viewership for Today was up 19% year-over-year, but demo viewership was down 6%. That’s a potential red flag, considering rival ABC’s “Good Morning America” saw a 13% increase in the same audience.
Melvin summed up the group’s feelings at the end of the corner:
