After Savannah Guthrie's mother went missing, the Today anchor took a two-month leave of absence from the show that airs daily on the 2026 TV schedule. Then, on April 6, she was warmly welcomed back to the NBC show, but apparently, the network had much higher expectations for how audiences would react to her homecoming than what actually took place.
When scooper Rob Shuter guested on The Megyn Kelly Show this week, he shared some new information about how NBC allegedly handled Savannah Guthrie’s return in anticipation of more eyes on the talk show, and how they were let down. In his words:
The show really thought this was going to be a massive moment. Everybody at NBC thought there were going to be hundreds of people, if not thousands of people in The Plaza. They hired extra security. They thought this was going to be like a pop concert, like Justin Bieber was in The Plaza. A decent-sized crowd showed up, but it was not overwhelming. And then the ratings for Savannah’s return, they were up, but not up like the show thought it would be.
Instead, on the day Guthrie was welcomed back to Today, viewership went up 6% among viewers 55 and up and 2% among demo viewers (aged 25-54). That’s certainly not enough of a bump to mean much, and it goes to show that Guthrie’s return wasn’t the event NBC was apparently hoping for. As Shuter also added:
Article continues belowThe Savannah moment didn’t quite turn out what they wanted, what they hoped, what they expected it to be. And I think that’s because this story, it’s a really complicated story. It’s a really frustrating story. There’s so many pieces of this story that just don’t add up.
It certainly doesn’t help that there are still a lot of questions left unanswered over the situation with Savannah Guthrie’s mom, Nancy. She still hasn’t been found, and an investigation remains underway. Perhaps there would have been a lot of fanfare if Nancy had been found and could have joined her daughter in her return, but Savannah is returning to work while the circumstances around her mother's investigation are still up in the air and unresolved.
The investigation of Nancy Guthrie has entered its 84th day without a named suspect. A trial date has been set for Derrick Callella, the man who has been charged with sending Savannah Guthrie a fake ransom text following her mother's disappearance, per Yahoo.
The journalist and author pointed out that another possible reason things didn’t go as planned is because morning talk show hosts aren’t the celebrities that they used to be. He recalled having dinner with Katie Couric and Matt Lauer and the restaurant “buzzing”, whilst when he walked with Guthrie down the street, heads didn’t turn as much.
Guthrie’s return to Today might not have been what NBC “wanted,” but it was quite touching with her and Hoda Kotb getting to reunite on the talk show together when Craig Melvin went on vacation after her former co-host frequently took her place in her absence.
We’re sending the Guthrie family support as they try to resume life while dealing with this family tragedy.
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