If the Pima County Sheriff’s Office updates during the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping crisis feel like they belong in a reality TV show, well, they sort of already do.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Office, led by Sheriff Chris Nanos, is the featured group of cops on A&E’s Desert Law, which airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. (following a new episode of Ozark Law!). Feb. 18’s Desert Law episode, “Weapons Found,” centers on the specific challenges that come with policing in a state, Arizona, with “some of loosest gun laws in the country.”
Nanos doesn’t appear in the show but coordinates with producers Twenty Twenty given that his officers and detectives are the featured stars of the “docu-follow” (its first episode is titled “Welcome to Pima County”). Not appearing on camera was the Sheriff’s call, a source close to the production tells The Hollywood Reporter.
Desert Law season one and two were filmed back-to-back in 2025, so you won’t see any Guthrie coverage in this batch or the next. The series premiered in January (no word on a season three order).
The Desert Law logline reads: “When the blistering Arizona sun finally sets over Tucson’s Sonoran Desert, the temperature drops — and the crime rises. With elite access to one of the largest sheriff’s departments in America, Desert Law follows the high-intensity work of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department — its patrol deputies, DUI unit, and night detectives — as they cover more than 9,000 square miles of rugged terrain, taking on the trouble that thrives after dark. Immersed in the pressure and danger of policing the desert night, the series captures a world where the spirit of the Old West still lingers and the fight for order never ends.”
The sheer size of Pima County is hard to overstate, which has played out in the Guthrie investigation, now on Day 18. Its 9,000 square miles is larger than the entire state of New Jersey.
Nanos has received quite a bit of criticism as the investigation drags on. Guthrie, the mom of Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, was forcibly taken from her Tucson home in the early morning hours of Feb. 1; a suspect has yet to be identified. Nanos has acknowledged some missteps and pushed back on others, including reports of a poor working relationship with the FBI. It’s a bit unclear which law enforcement agency has final jurisdiction in the Guthrie search.
On Tuesday, Nanos hosted a number of reporters in his office for one-on-one interviews. Nanos’ media training was on full display, and his office was professionally lit for TV.
