With the search for “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s missing mother continuing, NBC says that veteran Olympics broadcaster Mary Carillo will replace Guthrie as co-host on Friday’s telecast of the opening ceremonies for the Winter Games.
The mystery of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance — investigators believe she was taken from her Arizona home against her will — has cast a pall over what was anticipated to be a giant week for the television network.
The Olympics is among the few events to still draw consistent, big audiences to broadcast television. Other notable draws include the Super Bowl, which NBC is due to televise this weekend.
Savannah Guthrie had been scheduled to co-host the opening ceremony with Terry Gannon, but NBC said she was no longer traveling to Italy because of her mother’s disappearance.
Carillo is a familiar face to people who watch the Olympics — these will be her 17th Olympic Games — and she will co-host with Gannon.
Carillo lived in Milan for two years as a child, NBC said. She has hosted closing ceremonies at three Olympic Games — in Salt Lake City in 2002, Beijing in 2008, and Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Guthrie’s “Today” show co-host, Craig Melvin, is also not going to Italy, NBC said.
He was due to host late-night Olympics broadcasts early next week, and he’ll be replaced in that role by Ahmed Fareed.
NBC News has aggressively covered the story of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, but it hasn’t been alone.
It was the lead story of ABC’s “World News Tonight” on Tuesday, too.
