Savannah Guthrie returns to ‘Today’ show, as the search for her mom continues
By Brian Stelter, Holly Yan, CNN
(CNN) — Savannah Guthrie showed viewers her grief and desperation when her mother, Nancy, vanished two months ago. Now she is showing viewers her resolve.
Guthrie returned to the “Today” show on Monday morning — her first time co-hosting the flagship NBC morning show since Nancy’s disappearance.
“It’s good to be home,” Guthrie said. She wore a sunny yellow dress — reminiscent of the yellow flowers and ribbons placed by loved ones at her mother’s home.
The show might acknowledge the agonizing circumstances facing the Guthrie family, as Nancy still has not been found, despite an extensive search and exhaustive media attention.
However, the broadcast opened with Guthrie discussing the latest in the war in Iran and other topics. “Ready or not, let’s do the news,” she said.
The hosts and producers are expected to balance interest in Guthrie and her back-to-work day with the intense wartime news cycle.
Returning to the desk
Guthrie, a 19-year veteran of NBC, has been the centerpiece of the “Today” show for years, and helps set the tone for the broadcast every weekday morning — something she will surely continue to do.
Former co-host Hoda Kotb returned to “Today” and filled in during Guthrie’s absence. When the two women taped an interview in late March, Guthrie said, “I can’t not come back. This is my family. I think it’s part of my purpose right now.”
Guthrie also said in the interview, “I don’t know if I can do it. I don’t know if I’ll belong anymore. And I would like to try. I would like to try.”
And she spoke eloquently about finding a way to keep living life despite the hole in her heart caused by Nancy’s disappearance.
Referring to the apparent abductors, she said, “I will not let them take my joy.”
“My joy will be my protest,” she added later. “My joy will be my answer.”
Other “Today” hosts have echoed that language in explaining why Guthrie is returning to work.
A person close to Guthrie added one more reason: The show — with its predictable early morning hours and pleasant banter with fellow broadcasters — is a comforting routine amid the most excruciating weeks of her life.
A case with no answers
Nancy Guthrie was last seen on January 31, hours before she was apparently kidnapped during the overnight hours on February 1.
She vanished from her secluded home in Arizona’s Catalina Foothills, near Tucson, without the medicines she needed.
Local authorities said Nancy was taken from her bed, leading many to wonder if the apparent abduction was related to her daughter’s high-profile work.
Guthrie acknowledged as much in her conversation with Kotb, saying her fame was “probably” to blame, “which is too much to bear, to think that I brought this to her bedside, that it’s because of me.”
As national media attention slowed down in late February, the Guthrie family announced a $1 million reward for information leading to her mother’s recovery.
Officials say the case is still active, but the lack of an identified suspect or other clear leads has contributed to a growing sense of frustration and disappointment.
Guthrie spoke of her heart-wrenching emotional journey in a taped message for her church’s “digital Easter gathering” on Sunday.
She said there are moments “when life itself seems far harder than death,” when people feel “deep disappointment with God” and a “feeling of utter abandonment.”
Recently, she said in the video, “in my own season of trial, I have wondered. I have questioned whether Jesus really ever experienced this particular wound that I feel — this grievous and uniquely cruel injury of not knowing, of uncertainty and confusion and answers withheld.”
But through those questions, she said, “comes a portal of revelation, the imparting of truth and wisdom,” and she reaffirmed her faith in the video.
A TV family rallies…
The “Today” show likes to think of itself as a family, and that dynamic was evident on the air on Monday.
As CNN previously reported, co-host Craig Melvin and other stars of the four-hour-long show are genuine friends with Guthrie outside of work, socializing off-camera and spending time with each other’s families.
Staffers at the show said Guthrie deserves much of the credit for the strong behind-the-scenes connections, since she has been on “Today” since 2011.
The show’s coverage of the Guthrie family’s ordeal has reflected those close bonds.
The hosts have covered the missing persons case rigorously, repeated the FBI’s tip line number countless times, and donned yellow ribbons to show support for the Guthries.
We “can’t wait to welcome her back with open arms here in Studio 1A,” Melvin said when NBC announced Guthrie’s return date.
For the network, a happy cast that feels like a televised family is good for business, and there’s no getting around the fact that the “Today” show is a big business, generating hundreds of millions of dollars for NBC News every year.
“Today” has a unique place in American culture, having invented the very concept of morning TV more than 70 years ago and easing millions of viewers into their workdays ever since.
The show has historically been a magnet for advertisers and has helped to subsidize the rest of the news organization’s work.
Television industry analysts expect Monday’s return episode to be especially highly rated.
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