This image released by NBC shows co-host Savannah Guthrie, center, with colleagues, from left, Jenna Bush Hager, Carson Daly, and Craig Melvin during the "Today" show in New York on Monday, April 6, 2026. (NBC/Today via AP)2026-04-06T04:09:26Z NEW YORK (AP) Savannah Guthrie was back and almost all business at NBCs Today show anchor desk on Monday, marking a return for the first time in more than two months since her mothers disappearance. Here we go, ready or not, Guthrie said as the show opened. Lets do the news.After running through a series of news headlines, Guthrie said that we are so glad that you started our week with us and its good to be home. Her co-host, Craig Melvin said that its good to have you back at home.She greeted longtime co-worker Al Roker with Good morning, Sunshine, when he noted that it was good to see her on the set. At the end of the first 25-minute portion of the show, she offered Melvin a high-five.Emotions got the better of her before the last half hour, when she joined her colleagues in front of fans gathered at the shows Rockefeller Center studio. She fought back tears when one fan was seen with a Welcome home Savannah shirt, and clutched colleague Jenna Bush Hagers arm and thanked people for their support. Guthrie says its hard to go forward not knowing what happenedGuthrie, one of morning televisions most recognizable faces, has been a Today host since 2012. She has acknowledged that shes a changed person and that its hard to go forward not knowing what happened to Nancy Guthrie, who authorities believe was taken against her will from her Arizona home.Despite an intense search involving thousands of federal and local officers and volunteers, there has been no sign of the 84-year-old mother of three since she was reported missing Feb. 1.The Today show has followed the story closely for the past two months, but it wasnt mentioned during the first hour of her return on Monday. Bringing things back to normal was clearly intentional: Her return wasnt referenced during interviews with NBCs Gabe Gutierrez at the White House and military analyst Steve Warren on the shows set. Hoda Kotb, the former anchor who had filled in for Guthrie for much of the past two months and interviewed her former colleague, wasnt on set Monday. Read More Today has seen a ratings boost over the past two months and has even eclipsed ABCs Good Morning America as the leader in the morning show ratings. The shows arent the profit generators they once were for the networks, but the rivalry is still intense. Today averaged 3.1 million viewers for the first three months of the year, up nearly 9% in an era most broadcast programs lose viewers. Its hard to tell how much the Guthrie story had to do with that: NBC also aired the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics in February, and both events tend to help a morning shows ratings.Good Morning America averaged 2.93 million viewers, up 2% over 2025 while CBS Mornings plunged 17% to 1.76 million, according to the Nielsen company.As part of a video message released by her New York church on Easter Sunday, Guthrie spoke about feeling moments of deep disappointment with God, the feeling of utter abandonment. But she said the resurrection is not fully celebrated if we do not acknowledge the feelings of loss, pain, and yes, death. In announcing her return to NBCs flagship morning show, Guthrie said she was uncertain whether shell feel like she still belongs.Its hard to imagine doing it because its such a place of joy and lightness, she said just over a week ago on Today during her first interview since the disappearance. I cant come back and try to be something that Im not. But I cant not come back because its my family.She didnt anticipate faking her way through the show, which is normally light-hearted with a mix of serious, breaking news.Guthries mom had made occasional visits to shows setThere had been a great deal of speculation about whether she would return. I want to smile, and when I do it will be real, she told Hoda Kotb, who came back to Today to fill in while Guthrie focused on the search. Being there is joyful, and when its not Ill say so.Nancy Guthrie made occasional appearances on Today over the years, once taking part in a cooking demonstration and surprising her daughter on the set. When Savannah Guthrie returned to her hometown of Tucson in 2025 for a segment recorded for the show, the two visited one of their favorite restaurants and talked about their love of Arizona. The Guthrie family has offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the recovery of their mother. Authorities believe Nancy Guthrie was kidnapped, abducted or otherwise taken against her will after finding blood near the doorstep of her home in the foothills outside Tucson. The FBI later released surveillance videos showing a masked man on the porch that night. Volunteers and search teams scoured the nearby desert terrain filled with cactuses, bushes and boulders in the first weeks after she vanished.But attention has faded from an investigation that was declared to be a top priority for the FBI and local authorities. Investigators have not released new evidence in weeks and say the number of tips has slowed. The FBI and the Pima County Sheriffs Department both said late last week that they had no updates. Early on, some media outlets reported receiving ransom messages tied to the case. Guthrie said she and her siblings responded to two that they believed were real and offered to pay.Guthrie said her celebrity status might be the reason her mother was taken, but said that possibility was too much to bear.___Associated Press correspondents John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Sarah Brumfield in Washington contributed to this report. DAVID BAUDER Bauder is the APs national media writer, covering the intersection of news, politics and entertainment. He is based in New York. twitter mailto