Savannah Guthrie is returning to \u201cToday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Viewers of NBC\u2019s morning program learned Friday that Guthrie will be back to her hosting duties at the network\u2019s Rockefeller Plaza studio in New York on April 6.<\/p>\n
Guthrie, 54, has been absent from \u201cToday\u201d since Feb. 2, the day after learning her mother Nancy was abducted from her Tucson home. She appeared on the program this week in a taped interview with Hoda Kotb, her first since her mother went missing..<\/p>\n
Guthrie\u2019s re-entry on \u201cToday\u201d is certain to generate significant viewer interest. Her 84-year-old mother\u2019s case, still being investigated by law enforcement, generated an outpouring of public affection for the co-host.<\/p>\n
Many media industry insiders expressed serious doubts over whether Guthrie would return to television before law enforcement determined what happened to Nancy Guthrie. But people close to Guthrie believe her grit and deep religious faith will provide her with the strength to move forward.<\/p>\n
Guthrie told Kotb in a segment of their \u201cToday\u201d interview that she feels compelled to return because she considers the people she works with as family. She promised to be honest about her feelings when she\u2019s back on the \u201cToday\u201d set where the mood is often light and breezy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t come back and try to be something that I\u2019m not,\u201d Guthrie said. \u201cBut I can\u2019t not come back, because it\u2019s my family. I think it\u2019s part of my purpose right now. \u2029I want to smile. And when I do it will be real.. And being there is joyful. And when it\u2019s not, I\u2019ll say so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guthrie, who became a \u201cToday\u201d co-host in 2012, acknowledged that returning to the program will be difficult and offered no guarantee of a smooth transition back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if I can do it,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll belong anymore. But I would like to try.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guthrie\u2019s daily presence on \u201cToday\u201d will also help keep her mother\u2019s case in the public eye. NBC is also airing a special \u201cDateline\u201d episode on the abduction on Friday.<\/p>\n