A Ray of Hope--ESPN severs ties with Bonds series

"ESPN severed its relationship with the "Bonds on Bonds" reality series yesterday, citing demands for editorial control by Barry Bonds' representatives over a planned final episode. Last week, ESPN put the series on hiatus after a scheduled Memorial Day episode that was to focus on Bonds' 715th home run, which he hit last Sunday, was subsequently postponed. ESPN cited Bonds' slow pace of hitting home runs and his health for ending production before its planned conclusion in mid-July. It denied that low ratings, an average of 0.5 (or 455,000 cable households)was the reason. In a statement yesterday, ESPN said it and Tollin/Robbins Productions had refused to hand over the creative control they "have been unwilling to give throughout the project." Rachael Vizcarra, Bonds' publicist, refused to comment, and ESPN refused to say who had made the demands. In an e-mail message, Mike Tollin, who produced the series, confirmed the demand for control but declined to elaborate. In an interview in April, Tollin said that, at most, Bonds had the right to review the episodes, but had no control." by the NY Times 6/3/06

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