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 an ESPN documentary series.
Bonds on Bonds will begin with a one-hour special at 8 p.m. April 4 on the sports-cable giant, and then appear in half-hour slices Tuesdays throughout the first half of the season, for a total of 10 hours.
Series producer Tollin/Robbins Productions 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. Tollin/Robbins' Mike Tollin said Wednesday that there will be a church-state separation between the documentary makers and ESPN's news operation, with no shared resources or agenda.
"They won't see it until we satellite it [to ESPN] on the day of the broadcast," Tollin said.
Tollin made it clear, however, that the series won't shy away from showing Bonds in reality.
"We have to acknowledge and address his image and reputation in order to stay credible," Tollin said. "He recognizes that and I don't think he wants to hide from that." Tollin has talked that and other things over with the slugger even before he agreed to do it.
"I spent a lot of time with Barry discussing his motivation, why he'd want to do the show," Tollin said. "We had to make sure our vision was compatible, that I would have the opportunity as a filmmaker to have creative control and be autonomous."
Tollin got to know Bonds more than 10 years ago, when he interviewed Bonds for a documentary on Aaron titled Chasing the Dream. He has kept in contact and, two years ago, was asked by Bonds' public relations agent whether Tollin/Robbins would be interested in doing a documentary chronicling Bonds' attempt to break the home run record.
While it was put on hold when Bonds spent most of the season on the disabled list, it went back on the front burner after Bonds returned to the plate in September. It grew into a series, which will allow Tollin/Robbins to chronicle Bonds' life from now until the All Star break. Right now there are no plans for a second season of Bonds on Bonds, though that could come about depending on what happens.
What it is not is a reality show, Tollin said.
"We don't make reality shows. We aren't interested in doing reality shows," Tollin said. "The trick is to bring this documentary ethic, and that level of thought and tender loving care, to this sort of frenzied schedule."
And it's a frenzied schedule, with a deadline documentary that will give Bonds on Bonds a weekly immediacy. The plans are for scenes from Bonds' first game, April 3, to appear on the April 4 hourlong show.
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