Why Al Roker Left Today Show Mid-Broadcast

How Al Roker, Deborah Roberts Are Adjusting to Life as Empty NestersFrom quiet on set to order in the court. Viewers of The Today Show were left in confusion when Al Roker made a sudden departure during the Sept. 28 broadcast, with meteorologist Dylan Dreyer filling in for him throughout the rest of the episode. “We have Dylan taking over for Al, who had to leave a little bit early,” anchor Savannah Guthrie said during the show, with Dreyer adding, “Yeah, a little switcheroo again this morning.” And when it was time for the third hour of Today, which Roker cohosts alongside Dreyer and Craig Melvin, Melvin said at the top of broadcast, “Al had to step out for just a little bit. He’ll be back tomorrow.” But while it seemed the departure would remain shrouded in mystery, it was Roker himself who soon drew back the curtain on where he’d gone. “Got out of The Today Show early,” the 71-year-old said in an Instagram video, “because I’ve got jury duty.” And indeed, the building behind him was not Rockefeller Center, where Today films, but instead an impressive building featuring columns. But Roker couldn’t help but bely the grandeur of the moment with a well-timed potty joke. “It’s everybody’s civic duty to do your duty,” he added in the video, before quipping, “he said ‘dooty’ twice!” These days, when Roker isn’t delighting fans onscreen with his weather reports or being an upstanding citizen in a New York City courthouse, he and wife Deborah Roberts are enjoying life as empty nesters, having dropped off their son Nick at college in early September.Arturo Holmes/WireImage“I feel good,” Roker—who also is dad to 27-year-old Leila with Roberts and Courtney Roker, 39, with ex Alice Bell—exclusively told E! News in a joint interview with his wife of 31 years Sept. 19. “I remember I was the first to go to college in my family, and I was the oldest of six. And I know my parents were just kind of thrilled to have one free bed. So, you know, I'm looking forward to his next chapter.” As for Roberts, she expressed her mixed feelings about her children having officially both flown the coop.“I feel excited,” she admitted, before adding, “It's always hard for me because at my core, I am a mom and a mama bear, and I miss the kids terribly. But you know what? I love seeing them spread their wings and start to fly a little bit.” Plus, it allows for her and Roker to enter a new phase of life together. “We’re holding up pretty well,” she added. “We're having date night.” For a closer look at the Today Show family on and off camera, read on. Photo by: Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty ImagesSheinelle JonesThe cohost of the fourth hour of Today shares son Kayin as well as twins Uche and Clara with her late husband Uche Ojeh, who passed away in May 2025 after a courageous battle with brain cancer. “With all three of my children, I try to show them that they're ALL a team, and they have to take care of each other," Sheinelle wrote in a 2015 essay for Today. “At the same time, I'm learning that they each like to know they're special on their own."Craig Melvin / InstagramCraig MelvinThree years after the anchor married fellow broadcaster Lindsay Czarniak in 2011, he earned his most cherished title yet: father. And now, he seizes every opportunity to gush about their son Delano and daughter Sybil. "When I wake up in the morning," Melvin said to his son during a May 2024 episode of Today, "part of the reason I work so hard is for you and your sister."Jenna Bush Hager / InstagramJenna Bush HagerThe Today with Jenna & Sheinelle cohost and her husband Henry Hager are proud parents to kids Mila, Poppy and Hal. As she put it during a March 2025 episode of the morning show, “I’m pretty sure I’ve come to terms that three, even though it’s an imperfect number, it’s the perfect number for our household."InstagramHoda Kotb"Another Halloween in the books," wrote the former host as she celebrated the day with her daughter Haley Joy. She is also mom to daughter Hope Catherine.Lester Holt / Instagram Lester HoltThe former NBC Nightly News anchor shares sons Stefan Holt and Cameron Holt with his wife Carol Hagen. But more recently, he became a proud "granddude" to three grandchildren: Henry, Samuel and James. “When my daughter-in-law was pregnant with her first baby ... she said, ‘Well, what do you guys want to be called?’" Holt said on The Kelly Clarkson Show in 2021. "I said, ‘I think I want to be ‘Granddude’ because ‘grand,’ it bows to the fact that I’m older. But ‘dude’ says, ‘I still got a little bit. I still got a little,’ you know?" InstagramCarson DalyIn 2020, the anchor and his wife Siri Pinter welcomed their fourth child, Goldie. The little one joined the couple's older kids Jackson, Etta and London. Steve Mack/Getty ImagesKathie LeeHoda's former cohost is a loving mommy to her own two children, Cassidy Gifford and Cody Gifford, with her late husband Frank Gifford.TwitterSavannah GuthrieThe TV personality is a mom to two little ones, Vale Guthrie Feldman and Charles "Charley" Max Feldman, with her husband Mike Feldman. Noam Galai/WireImageAl RokerThe anchor and his wife Deborah Roberts are parents to Leila Roker and Nicholas Albert Roker.Paul Zimmerman/WireImageWillie GeistThe anchor of Sunday Today has been married to his wife Christina Geist since 2003. They're parents to two children, George William Geist and Lucie Joy Geist.For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App