Ratings for Savannah Guthrie’s Big Return to ‘Today’ Were ‘Not Up Like the Show Thought It Would Be’

Suffering​ Savannah Guthrie received less than the warm welcome home she expected from Today viewers and even her coworkers, the National Enquirer has learned, with sources saying the anchor’s colleagues loved her up on air, but the reception wasn’t the same behind the scenes.

After two-plus months of searching for her still-missing, abducted mom, Savannah, 54, returned to the air April 6 but didn’t attract the crowds that network bosses expected, the Daily Enquirer’s Editor-at-Large Rob Shuter said on The Megyn Kelly Show.

“The show really thought this was going to be a massive moment,” spills Shuter. “Everybody at NBC thought there were going to be hundreds of people, if not thousands of people, in the plaza.”

Company bigwigs — who are eager for Today to reestablish itself as champion of the breakfast programs after repeatedly being bested by ABC’s Good Morning America — attempted to create fanfare by announcing Savannah’s big comeback more than 10 days earlier.

“They’d hired extra security,” Shuter added. “They thought that this was going to be like a pop concert, like Justin Bieber in the plaza.”

Instead, noted Shuter, just a “decent” number of fans showed up in NYC.

Meanwhile, TV ratings saw only a 6 percent boost from the previous week, TV Insider revealed.

“They were not up like the show thought it would be,” admitted Shuter.

While the mystery surrounding Nancy Guthrie’s Feb. 1 disappearance from her Arizona home captured attention around the country for weeks on end, interest has seemingly waned as the 84-year-old’s case remains unsolved.

Publicly, Savannah’s colleagues have been supportive of both the ongoing search and her decision to resume working — however, sources say some at 30 Rock wish she would’ve stayed focused on finding her mom and away from Studio 1A.

As the Enquirer previously reported, Today has been mired in catty office politics for years, with insiders fretting about the amount of control Guthrie gained once she pushed Hoda Kotb, 61, out of her full-time anchor role in January 2025.

“Savannah and Hoda have never [gotten] along,” claimed Shuter.

The gossip columnist says the environments at morning shows are notoriously “nasty” — and that’s why he decided to set his newly published debut novel, It Started With a Whisper, around one.

“It’s vicious,” the author dished about clocking in on an a.m. program. “It is so cutthroat!”