‘I Am Legend’ With Will Smith… Matt Lauer, Katie Couric and Ann Curry

Will Smith scored a record December debut this weekend with “I Am Legend’. The film took in over $77 million, becoming the largest December opening ever and the largest opening ever for Smith. Smith portrays Robert Neville, the last living man on Earth who’s survived a plague on civilization that turned everyone else to vampires. The book by Ricard Matheson was published in 1997. Read a review of the movie from the Toledo Blade.

So what does this all have to do with the media (more specifically TV news which is often the subject of my blog posts)? As the movie opens, we’re expected to believe that the year is 2012. As the plot is set, the time frame jumps back three years to 2009. Smith sets out to find other survivors in the daytime. We find he also barricades himself in his home at night hoping to avoid the rampage of the vampires. Shortly into the movie, Smith is settling in, talking to his dog at dinner. A familiar voice echoes around his kitchen. It’s Ann Curry from NBC’s ‘Today’ show talking about a massive snow storm that hit New York. Ann is live on the plaza and stumbles through references to ’30 Rock’ no less. I’m sure she loves that producers picked a clip where she stumbled. Ann then tosses back to… you guessed it: Matt Lauer and Katie Couric. Even now as I write this, I’m wondering if I hit a time warp… or have ‘Today’ top of mind so much. In 2009, Smith is watching old tapes of the ‘Today’ show with Matt and Katie. Perhaps we are all in a time warp… and should have known that the end of the world was near. :)

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