Today Show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie has been contending with the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of her mother, Nancy. Savannah took a months-long sabbatical from the show and eventually returned in early April. Aside from that familial crisis, Savannah has also missed time due to other obligations and, in some cases, good friend and former co-anchor, Hoda Kotb has filled in for her. Now, if a report is to be believed, Guthrie has a request for NBC execs, and Kotb is allegedly involved.
Guthrie was away from Today earlier this month, though it wasn’t because of her mother. Instead, the veteran journalist simply wanted to take some time off and spend it with her family. During that time, the powers that be at NBC had fellow Today Show stars Sheinelle Jones and Laura Jarrett fill in as co-anchor to Craig Melvin. Per an insider who was cited on Rob Shuter’s substack, that was the result of a request from Guthrie. The individual dropped claims about Guthrie’s strong feelings on the matter:
Savannah has quietly made it known she wants a deeper bench. Hoda left on her own terms, and everyone respects that. But the show isn’t looking backward. Savannah wants viewers to become just as comfortable with Sheinelle, Laura, and other anchors alongside Craig.
These comments should be taken with a grain of salt though, considering neither Guthrie nor NBC top brass have confirmed that such a conversation was had. However, such rationale would make sense, considering the talent present at the show. Jones co-hosts the fourth hour of Today alongside Jenna Bush Hager and was named to that post this past January. As for Jarrett, has been the co-anchor of the Saturday edition of Today since 2023. So there’s definitely in-house talent to utilize instead of having Kotb come in.
Kotb announced her Today Show departure in September 2024, at which point she’d co-anchored the main show since 2018 and the fourth hour since 2007. At the time, Kotb attributed her decision to a desire to spend time with her two young daughters and venture into new enterprises. For a time, it was even rumored that she’d replace Kelly Clarkson before she formally announced her decision to leave her eponymous talk show. While Kotb’s willingness to fill in for Guthrie has seemingly been helpful, another source says this:
Hoda chose to leave, and the show has to move forward. There’s enormous respect for everything she accomplished, but nobody is trying to recreate the past. The focus now is building what’s next.
Regardless of what’s supposedly been said about Kotb returning to the studio to lend a hand, she’s previously said she was “happy” to be back at the show in order to assist her TV family. Upon Guthrie’s return to Today back in April, she and Kotb also shared a tender moment together on air.
As for what’s coming up, Savannah Guthrie is actually set to be away from the show a bit longer, as she recently revealed on air that she’d be taking some time to film her new game show, Wordle. So NBC may be in a position in which it has to rely on talent like Laura Jarrett and Sheinelle Jones again. Whoever ends up filling in, I’m confident they’ll be capable of doing the job like either Guthrie or Hoda Kotb.
