Wil Wheaton playing for EFF

Quintin Stone (and every other Slashdot reader on the planet) writes: "Wil Wheaton is among the many Star Trek actors on tonight's Weakest Link, except that the charity he's playing for is the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Though so far he's been doing well." CD: I don't want to give away the ending, many people have yet to see the show.

Comments

A Question for Wil

[Kozz]

I enjoyed watching the show (WL), but I've gotta ask: Was Roxann just putting on an act, or is she truly as much of a colossal bitch as she seemed? My jaw dropped when watching her "exiting interrogation".

Re:A Question for Wil

[Aelgifa]

She doesn't seem to know when someone is making a joke. I mean "because I am in love with her" all by itself....without the tone...maybe could be taken seriously, but add "because she is the only one on here who is as good looking as me" and it becomes a complimentary joke. In regards to her exiting comments" Starting out saying she would be mad if Wil wins it is just out of line, I mean what she was really saying is that she hoped he blew it for his charity. Way to go Roxann! Now shut up while I dig through your email. Then going on to say she didn't like how he "came onto her on public TV" Well geez, sounds like someone is full of herself to think that was coming onto her. And that she was upset cause her husband was going to see the show. Well my dear if you were that upset about it maybe you shouldn't have mouthed and gestured "I love you" back to Wil. What a dumb bitch. Aelgifa A.K.A. Cherish

Re:A Question for Wil

[ryanr]

A couple of days ago, he made reference to that on his site... which I would link to if it weren't currently slashdotted to death. He basically apologized to her, and said he was kidding. Kinda implies he took her reaction seriously.

Re:A Question for Wil

[rianpie]

Wil posted his regrets in his blog after the taping because he found out about Roxann's exit comments after participating in the interview here (includes Roxann's comments- the good stuff's on pg 2)
http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,185430~3~0~star trekactorsjoin,00.html

He thought it was all in fun, but apparently yes, she WAS a "colossal bitch". And WTF? She seemed to have it in for him from the minute the show started!

Re:A Question for Wil

[Rogerborg]

• Was Roxann just putting on an act, or is she truly as much of a colossal bitch as she seemed? My jaw dropped when watching her "exiting interrogation".

Here's something to bear in mind. Anyone who hasn't been following Wil's career would take him at face value too, and not realise that he was playing an (ill advised) part. We know better, but the vast majority of the audience won't.

So let's not be too hasty to judge Roxann. Wil and Roxann were basically doing live improv, and that's a pain to do with someone you don't know. I'd rather assume that they got their wires crossed and both escalated their jerkwad/bitch roles without realising that one of them needed to defuse it by turning it into a joke.

That said... just in case it wasn't an act on her part... hey, girl, you ain't all that. Wil's a lot finer than you. :-)

I Just saw it Myself...

[Alexius]

Spoiler, If you didn't watch yet:

Wil did pretty well. Made it to being one of the last three people (Robert Picardo And LeVar Burton went on, LeVar won), and I think he could have taken Robert. LeVar was pretty sharp, though.

Also, it was good to see the EFF on a more 'Mainstream' medium. Go Wil!

What was with Roxanne? She was honestly out to get Wil at first, and she just seemed like a real bitch, otherwise.

Re:I Just saw it Myself...

[Geek Boy]

LeVar was on Reading Rainbow, after all....

Re:I Just saw it Myself...

[sconeu]

Naw... she was just disgusted by Shatner's kiss.

Re:i'll tell you the ending

[digitalsushi]

an AC telling us Levar won?

lemme guess... "But you dont have to take MY word for it!" buh bum BUM

I quit watching Weakest Link

[sessamoid]

The problem with WL is that the brightest out of the bunch almost never wins. By logic, when it gets down to the last 3 or 4, it's in the best interests of the other players to vote out the player who is clearly the strongest. This has happened on almost every single episode I've watched, sometimes quite a bit earlier in the game as well.

The few exceptions tend to be those episodes that are made up of celebrities from a similar background. They're generally all independently wealthy, so aren't driven by personal gain. In addition, they've all got "personal history" between them which often leads them to vote off other players without regards to what would give them the best chances of winning.

It's nice to see the EFF getting national publicity though, as I'm a paying member myself.

In all, though, when I watch game shows (not often) I tend to watch Jeopardy for the reasons stated above.

Re:I quit watching Weakest Link

[John Harrison]

I just watched the episode. In general I agree with you. However, these people were simply trying to see how much money they could put into the pot, and they put A LOT in. $167,500 if I remember correctly. And in the end it came down to the two strongest, which rarely happens.

BTW, the EFF and all the other charites (except for the winner's) receive $10,000 according to the fine print at the end of the show.

Re:I quit watching Weakest Link

[Legion303]

The problem with WL is that the brightest out of the bunch almost never wins. By logic, when it gets down to the last 3 or 4, it's in the best interests of the other players to vote out the player who is clearly the strongest.

Just like Wil tried to vote off Robert, the brightest of the bunch.

Wil was far from the smartest contestant.

-Legion

Re:I quit watching Weakest Link

[CleverNickName]

Just FYI-

The three of us left knew that I was going to be voted off...I totally tanked in that round. So I was going to vote for Levar, but Anne was grilling us between each round, and I thought I could have more fun with her, talking about how Levar is my friend, and I didn't know Robert at all...thought maybe I could get in some comments about how we TNG actors have to stick together, or something...but they didn't air any of that exchange.

Yes, voting off someone who you KNEW was the strongest would be insanely stupid...but we all knew that my vote wouldn't count for anything, since I was doomed, anyway.

Re:I quit watching Weakest Link

[CleverNickName]

Hmmmm if you were playing for the money for yourselves, I could see eliminating any threats. But it was all for charity... no matter who wins, it is for a worthy cause, I can't see why you wouldn't let the best man win.

This is *exactly* the idea we all had, and why I was glad to be voted off. I blew some really easy answers, because I choked, and my brain skipped ahead...I mean, Paul Newman? C'mon! The worst thing was, with that one, and the ACE bandage one, as the words were coming out of my mouth, my brain was screaming at me "YOU'RE WRONG, ASSHOLE! YOU BLEW IT! SHUT UP, WESLEY!"

Re:I quit watching Weakest Link

[CleverNickName]

And now that you're on this thread, I'd like to ask a few questions about the show, if you don't mind: What is Anne like when the cameras aren't rolling? What's the deal with the $500 amount (You can't bank when it's on $1,000, but $500 is added every so often at the end of a round)? Do you know why no other original series members played?

When I ran into her backstage (literally. crashed right into her), she was really nice. She was all smiles, warmly shook my hand, and all that. It was really cool. She even made a comment about how she wasn't supposed to be nice to us, and she'd better put on her 'mean' face.

When Roxann left the stage, there was a close shot of her blowing a kiss and mouthing, "I love you." If that was in your direction (as it seemed to be), then why is she saying you were rude and "coming on to" her? I would have dismissed it as an act if I hadn't seen her poor acting skills on the few Voyager episodes I could stomach and if I hadn't seen Slashdot posts to the effect that you wanted to apologize to her.


I have no idea what was going on with her. I had forgotten that she voted for me in the first round, and I really did think that she was playing with me. That's why I said that I was voting for her out of spite, because I thought she got the joke...but when we were in commercial breaks, and I tried to make sure that we were cool, she totally wouldn't talk to me, and was kinda cool and snippy towards me. After seeing her comments at the end of the show, I guess she really was pissed at me. Which made me feel really badly, because I never meant any disrespect, or anything like that.

Someone also mentioned that you were shocked when a producer called you arrogant. If you were acting arrogant for the show--and my wife says you seemed fairly humble on the Diary-L list a while back, so I tend to believe her--then people who are seeing you for the first time (like me) are going to think you're arrogant, even if people who know you know different.


Yeah. Thing is, I've done hundreds of shows for small, live, comedy club audiences in the past year. I was really playing to that studio audience, who totally got the joke. I should have been playing to the home audience, but I didn't think of that until later. I also think that the producer was saying that to get a rise out of me. They do that, you know. They want to get you riled up, so they can take the most indignant, bitchy, or nasty soundbyte and use it. I was very aware of that, and didn't want to fall into that trap. That may be why Roxann came off so mean towards me. She may have said funny things, and that's the only one they took.*shrug*

Bottom line is, I got 10K for the EFF, and that makes me happy. I also got to raise awareness for the EFF, and that is way more important to me than some stupid thing between two actors, or how I'm percieved.

Wil Wheaton is cool

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

The more I read about the guy, the more I like him. I admit, I didn't like Westley Crusher, and each time I saw Wil appear on TV or say something as himself, I had this dislike of his character come back in my mind. It's sad isn't it, mixing the actor with the character. But now having read what he had to say, and looked at his website, I reckon he's really smart, and I believe he has a real good chance of getting his career out of the "child star" trap : not many child actors can, just look at how many times Mcaulay Culkin has appeared in movies or shows recently ...

Way to go Wil, you deserve success !

Wil lost, but EFF is still a winner!

[leonbev]

According to the disclaimer screen at the end of the show, all of the charities get at least $10,000. So, even though Wil lost, EFF still gets some money. Besides, the free publicity that Wil just gave EFF is probably worth much more than the donation.

Everyone also got paid union scale to appear on the show, so Wil got a few bucks out of the deal, as well.

They were able to bank $167,500!

[Hylian]

All of the contestants seemed to pretty much rock at one time or another on the questions... much better than on the average celebrity game show. LeVar Burton mentioned something about $167,500 being some sort of Weakest Link record.

Just in case anyone was wondering, here are the contestants:

Wil Wheaton (ST:TNG)
LeVar Burton (ST:TNG)
Robert Picardo (ST:VOY)
Denise Crosby (ST:TNG)
Roxann Dawson (ST:VOY)
John DeLancie (ST:TNG,DS9,VOY)
William Shatner (ST:TOS)
Armin Shimerman (ST:DS9)

Re:Who did Levar play for?

[leonbev]

Levar played for an LA chapter Junior Achievement.

Payroll deductions...

[AtariDatacenter]

If the EFF worked with corporations to offer payroll deductions like the United Way does, I'd be happy to donate a portion of my salary to the EFF. It really was a pleasant surprise to see Wil ("that's one L!") playing for that charity.

Re:Payroll deductions...

[AtariDatacenter]

You're an AC, so I almost thought of writing this off as an Eliza response. However, in fairness, this question does deserve an answer.

Under the United Way payroll deductions, I can pledge $500 to be taken out of my payroll, automatically, paycheck by paycheck, over the course of a year. Since I am paid bi-monthly, it is only $20/paycheck.

The advantage to me is that this is completely automatic. However, to do the same without automatic payroll deduction would require a great deal of dedication on my behalf.

The United Way has learned that they can reliably get a higher level of donations through the course of a year by working with corporations to do an automatic payroll deduction, versus asking employees to pledge a certain amount.

If the EFF should pursue such a method, and target companies that are more focused on Internet related business, perhaps they could find themselves a better revenue stream than traditional one-time donations.

Re:Payroll deductions...

[SicariusMan]

Actually you can have the EFF deducted from you payroll. You make your deduction throught the United Way and on the form you can elect where your money goes. You can choose from one of the United Way Charities, or you can donate to any 501c3 tax-exempt organization. On the donor form check the Specific Requests, code 99 is usually the one for 501c3 charities and include a statement saying which 501c3 charity, you want your money going to, along with their address. I personally give to the FSF through the united way, but plan on including the EFF sometime soon.

Re: but EFF is still a winner!

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

"Your subject line didn't have to start with "will lost"

It didn't, it said "wil lost"

Re:what a waste

[1010011010]

Yeah, freedom is not nearly as important as children.

Not.

Damn.

[Chris Johnson]

Wil, you just flat out _rock_.

Actually this tends to confirm a theory I have- the coolest/healthiest/sanest people out there are those who HAVE to be, because they learned the hard way. I think Wil definitely illustrates this- if you get heavy into being not only a Hollywood teenager, but are also saddled with being Wesley Crusher, you'll get off to a really bad start- and then, unlike most people, you have to _really_ grow up.

That's my theory, anyway, for explaining how Wil Wheaton turned out to be one of the cooler humans I've ever seen. Keep it up my ex-starfleet friend :)

Freedom is not a waste

[IdocsMiko]

The EFF is fighting for our freedom, one of the most important and central issues in the world. Women's Rights, Human Rights, Children's Rights, these are all worthy and important issues. They all have on thing in common: they need freedom to make progress.

3Gen vs. Misses Evil

[Anonymous Coward]

Dr. Evil should get out and date more.. how about Anne Robinson.

The contestants acquited themselves well, but Q took a powder early on.

Denise was obviously the crowds favorite and had the entire soundstage bidding her a rousing farewell... even Anne!

Bill was Bill, with a little Kirk thrown in.

Armin was a great sport.

Bob Picardo was a genius, WoW some of the questions he answered floored me.

Levar pulled some of the most amazing answers out of thin air and even wow'ed Bob.

Wil though was a true geek and seemed a team leader, doing verbal duets with Anne til the end.. of course we all know who got the last word..

I'd say Wil was more a brash younger captain serving as the instigator of the Clash, while cooler more intellectual minds eventually had to finish the game. How Weslean.. ~~

The dynamics and interplay, of which there was surprisingly a good lot, seemed truly like a missing Trek episode.. some years down the road I wonder if it will turn up in an Anthology of Trek stories.. the one where real characters from the Trek Universe get mixed up with actors in a Game show Universe.

Wil really seems to be over his "I am Not Spock" phase and resumed being a human being with a wicked alter-ego.. imagine a twisted Wesley with revenge on his mind, true brillance, and a good dialogue coach.. Eee Gads..

But throwing in his chances with the EFF, you just gotta admire him for that.

Roxane? what of Roxane?

Could it be some evil entity of denial that body hops from person to person shortly after a Trek series is over? Is it Roxane's turn to play "I am Not Banal Balanna, the Klingon"

Re:what a waste

[Artifex]

I have to agree with this. With starvation-related deaths in Afghanistan (conceivably going over a million) as just the most obvious example, there are better ways to spend the money. Sure, the EFF is cool. General human rights is even cooler. But... let's keep people from dying of things like starvation, disease, and our own political expediency before we worry too much about their rights - or ours.

Wil, I like ya - I really do. I just have to wonder, though - if you had a million dollars to invest on a cause, why you'd pick the EFF. I hope it wasn't just because of some 31337 haxor image or something...

Disaster and famine relief organizations (I'm thinking Mercy Corps, not the Red Cross), Doctors Without Borders, CARE, and UNICEF have relatively low administrative overheads (Mercy Corps claims 5%!) and work to stop people from dying. If slashdotters want to concentrate on helping people at home, plenty of homeless shelters and havens for abused and/or addicted women and children, not to mention any number of cancer and disease societies and, yes, famine relief organizations in almost every city, also are desperate for funding.

LeVar beat WW because of RR

[Bastian227]

I guess those years of Reading Rainbow really paid off...

I scored the game - here it is

[Erbo]

THE WEAKEST LINK - STAR TREK EDITION - 11/26/2001

The Team: 1. Wil Wheaton
2. LeVar Burton
3. Robert Picardo
4. Denise Crosby
5. Roxann Dawson
6. John DeLancie
7. William Shatner
8. Armin Shimerman

Round 1: $17,000 banked
Strongest: Crosby - Weakest: DeLancie
Votes: Dawson 2 (Wheaton, Shatner), DeLancie 2 (Burton, Crosby), Shatner 2 (Picardo, Shimerman), Wheaton 1 (Dawson), Picardo 1 (DeLancie)
Crosby elects to remove DeLancie

Round 2: $13,500 banked (total $30,500)
Strongest: Picardo - Weakest: Shatner
Votes: Shatner 3 (Burton, Picardo, Shimerman), Crosby 2 (Wheaton, Shatner), Wheaton 1 (Dawson), Dawson 1 (Crosby)
Shatner removed

Round 3: $2,500 banked (total $33,000)
Strongest: Burton - Weakest: Crosby
Votes: Dawson 4 (Wheaton, Burton, Picardo, Shimerman), Wheaton 1 (Crosby), Shimerman 1 (Dawson)
Dawson removed

Round 4: $14,500 banked (total $47,500)
Strongest: Picardo - Weakest: Shimerman
Votes: Crosby 4 (Wheaton, Burton, Picardo, Shimerman), Shimerman 1 (Crosby)
Crosby removed

Round 5: $25,000 banked (total $72,500)
Strongest: Picardo - Weakest: Shimerman
Votes: Shimerman 3 (Wheaton, Burton, Picardo), Wheaton 1 (Shimerman)
Shimerman removed

Round 6: $25,000 banked (total $97,500)
Strongest: Burton - Weakest: Wheaton
Votes: Wheaton 2 (Burton, Picardo), Picardo 1 (Wheaton)
Wheaton removed

Round 7: $35,000 X2 banked (total $167,500*)
Strongest: Picardo

Final: Picardo starts, Burton wins 4-3

* - According to comments made by Burton, "They say it's a record."

Re:what a waste

[Sloppy]

You're right, it's not a charity. It's an activist organization. And it's worth more than almost any charity. It's for improving the future instead of putting a bandaid on the present.

Re:Maybe a silly question

[arnex]

but I'm in Oz so we just get the stupid local version...

Hmmm... strange. That's what we get in the U.S. too.

Airtimes

[geoffeg]

Well, slashdot posted the info 13 minutes after the show ended here (8pm). Searching tvguide.com and tv.yahoo.com shows that particular episode as not airing again.

Anyone have any idea if it will air again or maybe someone who captured it to mpeg or something?

I really wanted to see it.

Geoffeg

Reading Rainbow

[kninja]

Reading Rainbow was a TV show about reading books. It was always on Public Television. It's actually quite enjoyable if you can get around the irony of watching a TV show that reads childrens books to you.

I'm humming the theme song.

Mod that guy up as funny.

Re:what a waste

[PD]

Your comments reflect a common sentiment, but it's not logical to take that position. Here's why:

1) First statement (yours) summed up neatly: why play for charity A when charity B appears to address a more pressing need. That is where you stopped thinking about it and reached a conclusion.

2) The conclusion was premature: one can go further - why play for charity B when charity C is addressing an even more pressing need. But that's not the end of it either.

3) The set of all charities is finite, meaning that if you continually favor the charity that address the more important need, then eventually you will find THE charity that addresses the MOST important need. That is where you stop. Give them your money.

4) Unfortunately, that situation leads to starvation. If you accept the first idea as true, (the one that you offered) then only one charity can logically be funded. Obviously, this is a far worse situation than we intended,

5) Therefore, we must reject the original premise as leading to an undesirable outcome, and therefore flawed for purposes of efficiently distributing money to charity.

The insult "get a life" is similarly flawed. At the end of the chain of thinking, one must live as the finest human being ever, and to be any lesser earns the "get a life" smackdown. One could offer my argument that I gave above as a logical retort. Or, one could simply offer a middle finger and a "hearty colloquialism".

I missed something...

[sconeu]

In the previews they showed Anne Robinson saying, "Whose phaser is set on stupid?" I didn't see that one in the aired version.

Wil's comments about the show...

[Lyrrad]

Can be found in the Google Chat here:

Here are his comments copied:

Aw, Crap

I did this interview with Entertainment Weekly Online, to support the Star Trek Weakest Link...I know, it was risky, considering how brilliantly objective and reasoned their last story about me was...but I was assured by NBC, and by the guy who did the interview, that it was a different medium (Website vs. Print) and it would be okay....

So here's the article...which is fine, except for "Crusher Crushed"...c'mon, how many times have we heard that?

Anyway, here's the deal: I'm really scared about how this is going to come off. I'm not allowed to talk about the outcome of the show, so I'll walk a very slim line here, while I try to explain some stuff.

I made a choice, when I went to play the show. I decided that I'd really play with Anne Robinson, and really go head to head with her, and never back down. Even though that's not really my style, I thought it would be fun, and it was...but I'm really nervous, because, at the end of the show, one of the producers came up to me and said, "You're really arrogant, aren't you?"

I was stunned. Ask anyone...I'm lots of things, but I'm not arrogant. But I played it snotty with her, because I was playing with her at her own game, you know? So I begged them to please be thoughtful when they edit the show, because if they make me out to be a huge dick, it could REALLY hurt my career. All of a sudden, the guy who you used to love from TV and Movies has grown up, and he's grown up to be a huge dick.

Perfect. Can I take your order? How about a nice Iced Tea to start, sir?

But here's the thing that I'm really, really upset about: Roxann Dawson, who I don't know at all, was, apparently very offended by something I said on the show. Here's the quote from EW:

However, Roxann Dawson (''Voyager'' sex symbol B'Elanna Torres) appears less amused when the married Wheaton jokes that he's in love with her. ''Coming on to me on national television -- when he knows my husband's gonna watch the show -- is just unfair, and frankly rude,'' Dawson says to the camera. (We don't think she's joking)

So, I feel just terrible. I don't know her, at all, and she seemed very nice to me, and I am really upset that she felt like I was rude to her, and that I was coming on to her, because nothing could be further from the truth.

I doubt it, but if Roxanne reads this, I want her to know that I meant absolutely no disrespect, at all. I am truly, truly sorry for that.

I just feel awful, and I've put in calls to my Star Trek friends, so I can phone her myself, and apologize to her.

*sigh*

Re:what a waste

[Robotech_Master]

When you get on The Weakest Link, then you can decide where you want your money to go. I have to say I agree with all the other people--the EFF is an important foundation, now more than ever, what with the terrorist backlash seriously threatening our civil liberties. It's not just about whether we can watch DVDs on Linux, you know.

NBC supporting EFF!

[juju2112]

So, NBC is now going to donate $10,000 to the EFF. Does anyone else find this kinda funny? :)

Re:Who did Levar play for?

[jcr]

I seem to remember Junior Achivement as a sort of mobile capitalist indoctrination

Yeah, that's the way the idiot pinko commie traitor crowd in my high school described it, too.

People who didn't have an axe to grind described it as a practical course in developing, marketing, and selling a product. All in all, quite useful knowledge in a world where Marx has been relegated to the ash heap of history, where he belongs.

-jcr

Improving WL

[john@iastate.edu]

Clearly WL would be a lot better if (oh gosh, here it comes) the strongest link in each round won a reprieve and was exempt from being voted off.

Roxann Dawson says "It was all in jest"

[Da Schmiz]

It was an act. In a message on her website's community board titled "Please can't we just get along!", she says:

• It was all in jest. My comments at the end of the show were in keeping with the spirit of our fun sparring. I wish I could even take credit for the idea. It was recomended that I say that by the producers. I thought it was funny.. Its a shame they cut away from my comment before I started laughing. The aim of the show is to create conflict... and I guessthey did. I didn't take offence to Bill Shatner saying he could take me in a fight. What does he think I am, a weak woman?!! LOL Come on everybody "lighten up" We were all having fun. Wil is great and I loved doing the show with him.

I agree... Wil is cool, Roxann was joking -- let's not start calling people names.