Bonds TV Show Is Called Out

The run appears to be over, mainly because of a lack of home runs.

“Bonds on Bonds,” the ESPN reality series featuring San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds, will go on hiatus after two more shows, and is unlikely to return on a regular basis.

The series, which began airing April 4, will be on today at 4 p.m. in its regular half-hour format. The show has been airing on Tuesdays, but was switched this week because of scheduling conflicts.

There will be a one-hour wrap-up show Monday at 4 p.m., and then that’s it, at least for a while.

“If Barry was hitting home runs at Albert Pujols’ pace, we would continue,” producer Mike Tollin said Wednesday. “You have to keep in mind that Barry hit eight homers in his final 42 at-bats at the end of last season.”

Bonds has six home runs this season, reaching 714 on Saturday to tie Babe Ruth’s total. Pujols, the St. Louis Cardinals’ first baseman, leads the majors with 23 homers. At Bonds’ current pace, Hank Aaron’s record of 755 is a long way off.

“Also, there is some fan fatigue, people tiring of the allegations and everything else that surrounds Barry. His health is another issue,” Tollin said.

Tollin said there still could be a special that would air around the All-Star game if Bonds is elected to the National League team. And there could be a season-ending retrospective. But Bonds, 41, probably would have to start hitting home runs on a regular basis for the show to come back as a weekly series.

The fate of the show had nothing to do with ratings, Tollin said. And ESPN spokesman Rob Tobias confirmed that, pointing out that last week’s show got a 0.6 cable rating, the same as the first episode. Those two were the highest-rated.

The original plan was for the series to run through the All-Star break. The independent production company of Tollin-Robbins planned to present 10 hours of programming. It is going on hiatus after only 5 1/2 .

Tollin and Tobias said that ESPN and Tollin-Robbins had agreed to a certain amount of flexibility, depending on how things went.

As it turns out, things haven’t gone very well. And apparently Bonds is tired of doing the series.

“It’ll be nice to get back into a routine and have some quiet around here,” he told MLB.com.