Savannah Guthrie abruptly took a leave of absence from the Today Show in February after her mom went missing. Her mother still hasn’t been found, but the anchor returned to her job in April. She has received a lot of praise from her co-hosts for her strength, but NBC was reportedly disappointed by the underwhelming return.
FBI Still Looking For Nancy Guthrie, 84
Savannah Guthrie’s mom, Nancy, celebrated her 84th birthday on January 27. The last time anyone saw her was January 31. She was allegedly abducted from her home in Tucson, Arizona, in the middle of the night. She was reported missing the next day.
The initial investigation showed signs of a kidnapping. Blood was found on the porch, and the security cameras were tampered with. The FBI got involved in the case and eventually released restored footage from the security camera that showed a masked person disabling the cameras. That was the last lead the authorities shared with the public.
NBC Disappointed In Savannah Guthrie’s Today Return
Nancy Guthrie is still missing. But Savannah Guthrie felt that returning to work was the best way to honor her mother. She sat with Hoda Kotb for a multi-part interview about her mother’s disappearance before officially returning to the anchor desk.
NBC reportedly wanted to go all-out for Savannah Guthrie’s return with flowers and ribbons outside where Today films in New York City. However, the host shut down anything extravagant and insisted on a low-key return. Her return was briefly addressed at the start of the show on Monday, April 6, but she quickly moved on to giving viewers the news of the day.
She did join her co-hosts outside of Rockefeller Center to greet a small number of fans. However, journalist Rob Shuter told Megyn Kelly that NBC was expecting a huge turnout.
“Everybody at NBC thought there were going to be hundreds of people, if not thousands of people, in the plaza,” Rob Shuter said on The Megyn Kelly Show. The network reportedly even hired extra security but the turnout was way less than expected.
Wasn’t The Ratings Boom They Expected
Savannah Guthrie’s return to the Today Show was expected to bring in viewers. While the ratings did go up a little, it wasn’t anywhere near what NBC thought. The ratings went up a measly 6%
Megyn Kelly had a simple explanation for that: “Savannah was never a big star,” she claimed. Rob Shuter agreed that morning talk show hosts aren’t as familiar with viewers as they used to be.
Savannah Guthrie’s co-stars and regular viewers are glad that she’s back. But her much-talked-about return didn’t garner nearly as many eyes as NBC thought it would. It’s been business as usual on the Today Show since her return earlier this month.
Despite the lackluster return, the NBC show still beats ABC’s Good Morning America in the ratings. Tell us your thoughts on Savannah Guthrie’s return in the comments.
Jennifer Havener grew up in a small town in Upstate New York. She earned her B.A in Writing & Literature from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She always knew watching reality TV shows and soap operas, particularly ‘Days of Our Lives’, would come in handy someday. When she’s not writing, she’s playing with her dogs, Lola and Ruger
