West Wing companion books

[DarkHoarse]

Hi

Just interested to know how many of you have read the various companion books available and what you thought of them? I'm thinking primarily of the official doorstop-sized companion with foreword by Martin Sheen; the unofficial novel-sized companion by Keith Topping (see my sig for full title); and the new script book by Aaron Sorkin. Though if anyone knows of others I'd be very interested to hear about them too.

I ask as I've just got hold of the script book. My initial disappointment that it wasn't a complete volume was soon tempered by realism (that would be a humungous book!) and then absolute joy at reading six uniformly excellent Sorkin scripts with an overall introduction (by AS) and individual episode intros (also by AS). What's especially good is the way in which certain screenplay directions make you think about a scene in a new way, and also how a few lines on the page look ordinary, yet these great actors turn them into memorable moments. A good example is Toby's "I'm afraid that's just tough, Mrs. Marsh" from the pilot.

Of course I'm not saying that a Sorkin script reads as "ordinary" on the page at all, just that even minor lines can be made awesome by Schiff et al.

For anyone interested who is yet to pick up the book, the six scripts are:

Pilot
A Proportional Response
In The Shadow of Two Gunmen I and II
17 People
Two Cathedrals

Quite a good selection, I think you'll agree ;D

[Lemon Lyman]

I've got The main companion book, but also Inside Bartlet's White House by Keith Topping - brilliant book, I've got it in paperback and it is very worn. Discusses each episodes under certain headings, lots of trivia and explains each piece of american politics as and when they are dealt with in the series such as the fillibuster. Also gives great character references - puts all the pieces of info that we find out about each character into one description. Only deals with Series 1 2 and some of 3

I've just ordered two others from Amazon, they should arrive today so I will let you know what they are like.
They are
Inside the West Wing by Paul Challen
and
The West Wing Staff by Bardley H Patterson

[DarkHoarse]

Cheers, would like to hear about those (adds 2 more things to shopping list...)

I also have both the official and unofficial companion books. I find the official one better for detailed plot summaries, and character analysis. However the unofficial book is also a brilliant read, particularly for the comments and critiques (most of which happen to be close reflections of my own opinions on certain episodes!) as well as the more original, thematic approach.

The books complement each other very well and I would recommend both to any Wingnut.

[Joey Lucas]

I bought my mum The Official Companion for TWW for mother's day. When I was reading it the other day I found what I think are a couple of mistakes in the summery for 'And It's Surely To Their Credit' - it says Josh is being asked for $40,000 i think it should be $50,000 and at the end it says that Charlie and Donna are in the end scene when they're singing to Ainsley.

Does anyone else think I'm right?

N

[DarkHoarse]

I didn't spot that, but I'm pretty sure it's just senior staff singing to Ainsley at the end. Can't remember whether it's $40k or $50k.

There is a minor error in the official companion's plot summary of "Take This Sabbath Day". It reads as if Father Cavanaugh makes it explicit that he has heard about Joey's visit and the advice from Toby's rabbi. In fact, the audience only learns about this when he delivers the immortal "He sent you a priest, a rabbi and a Quaker..." line. Ironically Keith Topping's book picks up on this, saying that Cavanaugh couldn't have heard about them because "he's only just arrived".

Me, I love that scene so much I think Topping is being awfully picky and we should just assume that Cavanaugh heard about Joey and the rabbi somewhere between the main entrance and the Oval Office. Hardly implausible in the circumstances.

[Flamingo]

I picked up on the singing mistake but can i ask a q. about the pics on the s2box set1 video? It shows Donna pullin Joshs ear with him to the left but in the actual scene she is pullin his ear and he is on the right. Did anyone else notice this? Also, thank you for tellin about the two new books, i didnt know they existed. Ive been wanting to get 'Inside' and the script book for ages now.

[Lemon Lyman]

The West Wing Staff turned out to be a book about the real white house and all of the staff. Haven't read it yet, but it could be good background reading.

The book my Paul Challen is not as good as the Keith Topping book. The episode guides aren't as detailed. There is an article on fans, the creator of the website jedbartlet.com got to go to the set and meet Bradley Whitford. Mr President - if you get to go and it's Bradley I want to come with you.

If anyone know of any books that cover all of series 3 and 4 I would love to know

[DarkHoarse]

If anyone is tempted to buy the new script book advertised after each WW episode, I urge you to pop down Waterstones or something and not to bother with the C4 shop.

This is genuine advice and not another gratuitous dig at C4, honest! Just that when I ordered the official companion from their online shop, it took 6 weeks to arrive and ended up costing at least £2 more than the average city centre price! Also, the long wait meant that it had been on general sale for at least 4 weeks by the time it arrived.

[DarkHoarse]

LL - thanks for the info on the other books.

Is "The West Wing Staff" about the Bush White House then? If so there's another book I can recommend about those White House staff.

It's called " White Men" by Michael Moore. You may have heard of it...

[Lemon Lyman]

No just the genera structure of the staff within the white house. I beleive it examins staffers from lots of past adminitrations - definately JFK

I will look out for that other book - haven't got that

[DarkHoarse]

Be warned: it's hugely cynical and best read if you are not exactly a big fan of George W Bush and the way America is going at the moment...

...which describes me, for a start!

[spike]

SWM is a great book.

I would also recommend Moores other books, Adventures in a TV Nation (I loved that show) and Downsize This! Random threats from an unarmed American

[Lemon Lyman]

Thank you for your recommendations - they are already ordered from my local bookshop.

I also would never buy from the channel 4 shop - I got my companion much quicker in the shops. There was an error in them so they had to be reprinted, that is why it come out a long time after the release date - see it has it's advantages to get to know the local bookshop owner ;D

[Laura Lyman]

If anyone else is buying any of the west wing books you should try Amazon.com. they are a bit cheaper and sometimes they do good deals like the companion with "Inside" for £20. That was a while ago but if you check they might be doing other deals including the script book.
The script book is good but i think they could have picked better episodes than a proportional response and 17 people. The other 4 should definately been in it.

[DarkHoarse]

I agree that better episodes could have been chosen, although the ones included are at the very least excellent and in at least half of the cases outstanding. I think the tight, claustrophobic nature of 17 People makes an excellent contrast with the more traditionally dramatic and unusually structured 'Gunmen' and 'Two Cathedrals'. This shows the breadth of Sorkin's writing talent.