{"id":490602,"date":"2026-02-26T01:04:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T01:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/490602\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T01:04:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T01:04:07","slug":"hoda-kotb-to-continue-at-today-in-savannah-guthries-absence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/490602\/","title":{"rendered":"Hoda Kotb to Continue at ‘Today’ in Savannah Guthrie’s Absence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tViewers of \u201cToday\u201d are going to see a little more of Hoda Kotb<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tKotb is expected to continue to fill in at the NBC morning franchise opposite Craig Melvin while regular co-anchor Savannah Guthrie continues to monitor the search for her mother, Nancy, in Arizona,<\/a> according to a person familiar with the matter. Kotb has been co-anchoring \u201cToday\u201d for the past three weeks.<\/p>\n

\n\tKotb does not plan to rejoin the program full time, this person says, noting that Guthrie is expected to return to \u201cToday\u201d on her own timeline, even though her absence may continue for a significant period.<\/p>\n

\n\tGuthrie has been absent from the show since the start of the month. Her mother, Nancy, has been missing since January 31.<\/p>\n

\n\tKotb, who left the program in early 2025<\/a>, has remained under contract to NBC since that time. She has taken part in a podcast as well as NBC\u2019s annual telecast of the Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade, while making occasional appearances on \u201cToday\u201d hours. Kotb was originally supposed to attend NBC\u2019s Winter Olympics coverage in Italy along with Guthrie and other \u201cToday\u201d personnel, but those plans were scaled back after Nancy Guthrie disappeared.<\/p>\n

\n\tKotb\u2019s decision to stay offers a viable solution for NBC and \u201cToday\u201d producers. She\u2019s already affiliated with the show, and adding someone new to the mix during such a difficult moment could be ill advised The introduction of someone new to fill in more regularly for Guthrie \u2014 even on an interim basis \u2014 could alienate viewers, who have a years-long relationship with her and don\u2019t want to see her treated poorly, particularly under duress.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Kotb announced her decision to exit in 2024, she cited a desire to spend time with two young daughters. \u201cI realized it was time for me to turn the page,\u201d after a recent 60th birthday, she told colleagues on the program. She noted that she had children later in life and that \u201cthey deserve a bigger piece of my time pie that I have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKotb had been at NBC News<\/a> since 1998, when she joined as a correspondent for the \u201cDateline\u201d newsmagazine. She arrived at NBC after logging years at CBS affiliates in Florida and Louisiana. But she gained a wider profile after joining a fourth hour of \u201cToday\u201d in 2007 that typically airs at 10 a.m. At first, Kotb was one of group of personnel assigned to the show, but within months was paired with Kathie Lee Gifford, a veteran of the syndicated ABC program \u201cLive\u201d who held her own for years opposite Regis Philbin.<\/p>\n

\n\tSuddenly, Kotb was talking about her dating adventures with Gifford. being satirized on \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d and sharing more of her personal life than than a journalist might expect. \u201cIt used to be you could host a morning show, even the 7, and not really reveal too much. And I think everything has changed now. I think now part of entering into this world, you have to reveal things. Because people expect so much more,\u201d\u00a0Kotb told\u00a0Variety\u00a0in 2014.\u00a0<\/a>\u201cThey don\u2019t know whether to love you or not if you don\u2019t share anything and sometimes you have to go beyond. I feel like I\u2019ve gone beyond what I\u2019m comfortable with.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Viewers of \u201cToday\u201d are going to see a little more of Hoda Kotb. Kotb is expected to continue…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,64883,61226,66501,1256,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-490602","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-hoda-kotb","10":"tag-nbc-news","11":"tag-savannah-guthrie","12":"tag-today-show","13":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}