No, but this version makes more sense, especially given Robert's enthusiasm for watching men fly. You can't see much once they drop out the vertical door, and I can't see Lysa letting her baby get close enough to the edge to watch the descent.
And while the motivation for doing it this way was obvious for the show, I thought having a sacred trial by combat fought near the edge of a fatal drop to be a bit implausible for the Seven Kingdoms - too easy for a low-born scumbag or dishonorable trickster to use it to beat a superior warrior. For all their talk of putting things in the gods' hands in a trial by combat, they don't seem all that keen on making it random or by chance - what they really respect is strength of arms, and the underlying motivation is that if a guilty man is going to beat the system, at least he will be a competent warrior or one who commands the loyalty of such men, and thus of use to society.

You're right, it was the wolves who did most of the fighting before Theon showed up with his bow and shot the guy holding Bran. I don't know why they'd leave them out since they've already proven that they can show them fighting, and having these bad-ass wolves was the most interesting thing about these kids, who to this point in the series had not done much more than get crippled, fawn over a total d-bag, pitch temper tantrums and be a typical "good son". Arya was the only one who got to strut her stuff early, and the menace of Grey Wind and Summer and Shaggydog made the boys a little more interesting. It also served to highlight the peril of Sansa's and Arya's positions without these formidable guardians, and also explain why various short-sighted measures to restrain the wolves were taken in the later books, which might have permitted some misfortunes the wolves could have averted (It's entirely possible that had they the run of the castle, Summer and Shaggy could have prevented its fate in book 2, not to mention the implications if Grey Wind had been at Robb's side at the Red Wedding). The more scenes we have of the wolves going through armed men like crap through a goose, the more reason to understand why people are so wary of them.

As for the actress issue, Helena Bonham Carter is possibly the worst casting choice for Osha, who was described as big and tough for a woman, though I suppose they are going for something more feral on the show, since they seem to have trouble finding actors of a scale to match Martin's imagination (King Robert, Hodor and Gregor Clegane all fail to match my visualizing).



I think they added that scene, because they didn't have her stream of consciousness available on the show as it was in the books, and they skipped some of the stuff at the tournament. That was the point where Joffrey made up to Sansa, and how she was back to being happy over him again. They also had to go over the top to show why Sansa would once again be so eager to marry him that she would betray Ned. Finally, placing that scene in the same episode as Robert's smack helps reinforce to the viewers how much Joffrey is Cersei's creature. In the book he would later display signs of having been indoctrinated by his mother on the evils of hitting your queen, but with the TV attention span, the source of that notion might have been lost on the viewers who might mistake it for some perverse innate decency on his part. Instead, it seems fairly obvious that Cersei vented her frustrations with Robert's blow to her boy, drumming into him the importance of properly treating his wife and upholding her honor. And also, she probably cracked the whip to make sure they stayed on good terms with her, now that the Lannisters and Starks were openly at odds.