ESPN has officially pulled the plug on its Barry Bonds reality show, citing a conflict with the controversial slugger's representatives over "creative control." The network already had placed Bonds on Bonds on hiatus last month after its May 30 episode. The network has struggled with the series from the time it launched in March because of poor ratings and criticism that ESPN was compromising its news operation by collaborating with Bonds. ESPN said Friday that "Bonds' representatives wanted creative control for the final episode, which Tollin/Robbins Prods. and ESPN have been unwilling to give throughout the project." An ESPN spokesman declined to elaborate on what precisely was the bone of contention. The next episode was to have offered a behind-the-scenes look at Bonds hitting his 715th home run. A representative for Bonds did not return calls seeking comment. Bonds is 41 home runs away from breaking Hank Aaron's career home run record.
NEW YORK -- Now on the verge of possibly breaking the career home run record of Henry Aaron, San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds will be the focus of a documentary series from ESPN Original Entertainment and Tollin/Robbins Prods. Bonds on Bonds will begin with a one-hour special at 8 p.m. April 4 on ESPN, then appear in half-hour slices Tuesdays on the network throughout the first half of the season for a total of 10 hours. Tollin/Robbins will follow Bonds as he nears the 755 career home run record of Hall of Famer Aaron. Bonds has 708 home runs in a Major League Baseball career that stretches from the mid-1980s. ESPN has long covered -- and sparred -- with Bonds, whose fame as a player (and owner of the single-season home run record) is often overshadowed by his battles with teammates, baseball fans and the media as well as persistent rumors of steroid use.
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