Several brilliant scripts from one of my fave shows of all time. It includes the finale for season three, which I was never that into: an agent gets shot and they kill an Arab - zzzz, well zzz by West Wing standards which included the amazing assassination in season one, the unravelling of the MS in season two, and the brilliant season four finale (I've watched this several times and always got a kick out of it). After that season five's finish was a bit of a snooze (Leo has a heart attack - big deal), but season six's was brilliant. Come to think of it season seven was a bit of a damp squib but they'd earned it by then. I'm disgressing... anyway, the scripts are excellent and enjoyable to read (not always the case with me and screenplays).
Sorkin's introductions and essays are illuminating, and in hindsight can be seen to explain why Studio 60 on Sunset turned out the way it did, i.e. so serious about a tv show... because that's how Sorkin saw himself on West Wing, a cental character in a serious drama about a tv show ("it's going to hit the news about my drug arrest", "I have to make a response to Sept 11", "we're having a labour dispute", "it's going to hit the news that we're leaving the show", tales of a dedicated band of people who work insane hours). Now I enjoyed "Studio 60", but it seemed to have a certain, er, lack of perspective about the role of a television show in the world, and you can certainly see that in these essays.
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