Today stars Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker were all absent from their usual hosting roles on Monday. And it seems the daytime TV show's status quo is due to be upended until the end of the week according to fellow news anchor Craig Melvin.
Opening the show early on Monday morning with NBC News' White House correspondent Kristen Welker by his side, the 44-year-old host who regularly fills in on occasions where either Hoda or Savannah are away, told viewers: "Savannah and Hoda are off this week, and Kristen Welker has made the trip up from DC to join us."
"It's great to be here on the day before the big holiday," Kristen said, before explaining how excited she was to get to celebrate Independence Day on Tuesday. Hoda and Savannah's week-long absence is likely a result of both hosts choosing to spend the national celebration with their families away from the responsibilities of the TV studio for one week.
The popular show hosted a huge concert in advance of this Tuesday's holiday on Friday, and with today's news that July 4th will be affected by bad weather, the studio must be delighted they had such a successful time before the weekend. Over 15,000 fans of the hit singer Karol G took to the streets surrounding Rockefeller Plaza in order to watch her perform at the very special summer concert.
This was a landmark crowd for the show which at times threatened to prevent the news hosts from being heard while hosting from outside the studio. However, thankfully Hoda, Savannah and their co-hosts Carson Daly, Sheinelle Jones, Dylan Dreyer and Al did successfully manage to host the end of the show from the plaza with no trouble at all.
Naturally there was slightly less of a turnout on Monday when the Today hosts braved a trip out to greet fans in a rainy Rockefeller Plaza, however as Craig explained earlier in the second hour: "Rain won't dampen the mood on the Plaza." Kristen agreed, saying: "The crowds are still fired up ahead of the fourth of July."
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Al joined Hoda and Savannah in being absent from the studio on Monday morning, with Dylan appearing instead to explain how July 4th may see disappointing and concerning severe weather sweep the country. The 68-year-old meteorologist was back on screen for Today's third hour, however, so is not seemingly taking the whole week off from being in the studio.
Al – who is currently awaiting the birth of his first grandchild – recently joined fellow NBC News colleagues in mourning the loss of former WNBC weather hosting legend Dr. Frank Field. Paying tribute to his mentor via social media on Sunday, Al said: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the Field family who lost their legendary dad, Dr. Frank Field. He was at WNBC when I started doing weekend weather, teaching me the ropes and the lay of the land."