What Will ‘Today’ Do if Savannah Guthrie Doesn’t Return?

Savannah Guthrie and her family — including her extended one at NBC’s Today show — are three weeks into a waking nightmare. It is believed that in the early morning hours of Sunday, Feb. 1, Guthrie family matriarch Nancy Guthrie was kidnapped in a violent encounter and removed from her home in Tucson, Arizona. Her whereabouts remain unknown and the Guthrie family has received no proof of life.

The terrible personal circumstances put any professional matters on the back burner. At Today, the mood has been shock and concern for their good friend and longtime colleague Savannah. There is also fear, and to that end, enhanced security. But the harsh reality of the business is that the show must go on, and Today has done so without its beloved co-anchor, who really is the mooring of the morning show.

Once it became clear that a very serious crime had been committed in Tucson, the folks at Today in New York City did what they could to support Savannah from afar. They sent love to Savannah and they sent information to the public. They did their jobs, substituting temporary talent onto Savannah’s seat beside Craig Melvin and attempted to keep the show as “normal” as possible. The program has dedicated two segments a day to Nancy, who had also been a semi-regular on-camera guest, and Savannah. The show’s communications team has kept the media abreast of the latest updates from the Guthrie family and the Pima County Sheriff’s Office.

It is incredibly concerning how long the search for Nancy has gone on. With each day and week that passes, the likelihood of finding the 84-year-old woman, who is in poor health and likely without her life-sustaining medication, decreases — especially the likelihood of finding her alive. The law enforcement failure (to this point) has not been for a lack of resources: between the sheriff’s office and the FBI, there are literally hundreds of men and women on the case. Though he continues to hope for a speedy resolution, sheriff Chris Nanos has recently acknowledged that it could be months or even years before such a case is cracked.

Two sources inside NBC News told The Hollywood Reporter they still expect Savannah Guthrie to return to the show when ready, and are planning accordingly. Staff and executives are of course cognizant of the fact that it would be difficult for anyone to return to such a post, which regularly includes lighthearted fare like cooking segments, after going through such a harrowing ordeal — regardless of how it concludes. They do not expect Guthrie back anytime in the near future.

As one of the sources put it, this situation is “day to day.” Internal conversations have been about how best to support Savannah in her sole focus of finding her mother.

A Status report on Wednesday cited “multiple TV veterans” in a story saying it is doubtful Savannah will ever return.

“There’s no way Savannah’s coming back,” one of the anonymous sources told the publication. “I can’t imagine she would even want to.”

The “TV veterans” were not directly tied to Today or NBC News in the story, but it was stated that several had news programming backgrounds.

Page Six took the quote and ran with it, including in its own headline: “Savannah Guthrie not ‘coming back’ to ‘Today’ show after her mom’s disappearance: report.”

Right.

Guthrie is considered a unique and versatile talent — she can and has literally done it all. Should it come to the point where Today ultimately needs a replacement because Guthrie chooses to not return, historical practice and preference has usually been to promote from within. To that end, Sheinelle Jones has been seen as a rising star inside of the organization, which was reflected in her recent promotion alongside Jenna Bush Hager at 10 a.m. (Jones had been off for months after her husband died.) Jones has subbed in some for Guthrie in her absence.

Hoda Kotb has also chipped in. It is unlikely that Kotb would consider returning to the show on any sort of a permanent basis, however, as she just left it about a year ago.

Though this is no bake-off situation — it cannot be overstated just how singular this situation is — one potential longer shot from outside could be CBS’ Gayle King. Her future at CBS News is very uncertain — everyone’s is — but her ratings there are unimpressive. King is a strong talent, but it would be a bit of a strange choice for NBC to poach a lower-rated anchor with so much homegrown talent.

Since Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapping, viewers have naturally flocked to the Today show for the latest and closest-to-home coverage on the biggest media story in America. In the past few weeks, Today has had a larger audience than Good Morning America on ABC. Almost surely, the Guthrie case is driving additional tune-in, but so are the Milano Cortina Olympics. Every two years, Today and other NBC News programs enjoy crossover opportunities and double-digit ratings boosts from the Winter and Summer Games.