h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: West Wing - Update - A13455137
Author: Lord The_Jon_m - Scout, Sub-Editor, Young, Educated and proud to be so. Bluesman of the Parish - U204330

Moved in accordance with new Updating Process at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/RF21

I realise that the discussion for this started elsewhere, but I'm assuming it should be here now.

Given how long this has been a potential update, my input isn't going to be very popular, but I think it needs to be said.

I have, of course, heard the words 'The West Wing' batted around for the last several years, in that time however, I've never made a point to sit down and watch an episode. This entry wouldn't compel me to do so, either. For starters it is very, very, *very* long. It also doesn't really tell me that much about the show. It seems, more or less, to be an entry 'by fans, for fans'.

It's very heavy (almost entirely) on characters. And while it tells a lot about what various characters do, it doesn't do so in a manner than can be followed. There are so many characters that from one to the next it's hard to tell who does what without a lot of scrolling, and there are many things that are out of context (For instance there is a mention that Charlie(?) wants to date the President's daughter and this results in a sniper attack where the President and someone else get shot by racists, but it doesn't really state anywhere that Charlie is black).

By the time I made it to the minor characters I had completely lost interest.

My suggestion would be to shorten (by a lot) the major character descriptions, especially given there are so many, and just touch on the important facts about the *characters*. Then in the next section, instead of minor characters, perhaps go series by series and give a marginally (not intricately) detailed summary of what important things take place in each season, with the episodic details that are now in the character bios put in their chronological place.

I hate to bring it up at this late stage, as it's been so long already and it's obvious you've put so much work into it, but I really feel this would make a better Entry.

updated all the things from the old update forum thread. (the joys of having a self destructing computer)

I appreachiate that Milos is saying, but

1) I have no time to do a rewrite

2) This is an update to a current EG entry. All I ahve doen is added in a the characters that appeared in the later seasons. I didn't want to rewrite it because we'd loose all the great work already done, and if it was good enough to get into the EG first time round like that, it should be good enough again.

Hi Jon, it certainly is a very long read and would be even longer if the 21 footnotes were included in the text.
How about splitting it into 2, having West Wing Part 1 and West Wing Part 2?

Just a thought.


ST. (Scout)

Ok fine by me, an updated piece by an enthusiast for enthusiasts. I enjoyed it.

Couple of typos:
Josh:
seesw
portfolio wis

Toby:
smuge should be smudge.

Nancy McNally:
lax fo her

perhaps I could have had the time to expand the synopisis section and split the entry, if it had been suggested in the year it was being ignored in the updates

As it is, there is no obvious place to slipt this into two parts that would make sence. (ie, doesn't look like it is split just to be split).

updated errors

The artwork at the top of the article looks a bit green.

I believe that's deliberate, Shagbark.

Jon, if you're wanting this to go forward as an Update as it stands, you need to leave a message at <./>Feedback-Editorial</.> for them to process the update. If you're unfamiliar with the new Update process, it is explained in the link Natalie provided in the first post.