POSTED BY Coley Ward ON 6:12 pm, May 25, 2006 - POSTED IN News reel
ESPN says since Barry Bonds isn’t hitting many homers and since Hank Aaron’s record is looking safer everyday, the network is pulling the plug on Bonds’ reality show:
Rob Tobias, an ESPN spokesman, said the decision was not based on ratings. But the series is averaging a slim 0.5 rating (455,000 households), while the programming it replaced at 7 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday had averaged a 0.8, or 753,000 households. “Bonds on Bonds” posted its highest rating last week, with a 0.6, before he hit his 714th.
Mike Tollin, the producer of the series, said by telephone from New Mexico that with 41 home runs separating Bonds from Hank Aaron’s career record of 755, “I didn’t expect to keep going.” But, he added, “If he were hitting home runs like Albert Pujols, we’d be leaving it open-ended.”
People, I don’t know much about much, but I know this: it’s all about two things in television: ratings and money. Bonds’ show probably didn’t cost much to produce, which explains why ESPN stuck with it for as long as it did. Plus, the show generated a lot of press. But if you’re not getting the ratings, you won’t last long.
Poor Barry. His skills are declining. His head is continuing to swell. His popularity is still as low as ever. You gotta ask yourself: if you can’t hit, you can’t field and you can’t make it on reality TV, is it time to hang up the cleats?
