CREATING A BOND WITH BONDS.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH The Media

Mike Tollin gulped a couple of days ago when he saw news reports that Barry Bonds had asked all media members to sign a release and waiver of liability form before he'd grant any one-on-one interviews upon arriving at the San Francisco Giants' spring training facility in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Tollin, as the grand overseer of a collaborative effort forming between his Tollin/Robbins Productions and ESPN's Original Entertainment to produce a weekly television documentary chronicling Bonds' 2006 season and his pursuit of the all-time home run record, knew that final approval from Major League Baseball, its players' union, the Giants, etc., wasn't all in place yet. Bonds had misunderstood a procedural point that Tollin explained to him a few weeks earlier, and now it was out - the documentary was on, with another seemingly contentious Bonds- vs.-media angle to it.

ESPN reporter Pedro Gomez was said to be surprised by Bonds' initial request when it broke last Saturday, and ESPN had to issue a statement on ``SportsCenter'' that its news division had nothing to do with it.

``It was the worst possible scenario for a documentary filmmaker, whose goal is to be as inconspicuous as possible,'' Tollin said from Scottsdale on Wednesday after ESPN finally released official word that the half-hour weekly show called ``Bonds on Bonds'' has a green light and will start April 4 on ESPN2 (then move to a regular time slot of Tuesdays at 4 p.m.).

``Barry meant well. During one of our many meetings when we discussed how this would work, I told him that I may sit with reporters who know him best and do one-on-one interviews, like I would with any documentary, and it's standard procedure to get consent forms signed - with teammates, ex-players, even his mother. But not if it's just the incidental stuff that goes on every day with the media. So we clarified that and everything's fine now.''

Tollin had enough land mines to avoid just to get everyone together on this project, which reportedly will cost $2 million from ESPN's EOE budget to create at least 10 hours worth of TV time. One stipulation from the start was that ESPN's news side wouldn't be infiltrating Tollin's production for footage. ESPN will continue to cover Bonds as it does, separately from Tollin.

``That's important for their credibility and it's comforting for us that there'll be no compromising the integrity of our show,'' said Tollin.

``This is a hard enough thing to do because there's enormous scrutiny on Barry, on a moment-by-moment basis. Everyone is concerned about our approach and tone of it. But what's important to us is to stay clear of that 'reality' tag. We're not into making contrived or manipulated situations.''

Tollin's company, known more for its feature movies (``Coach Carter,'' ``Radio'') and TV series (``One Tree Hill,'' ``Smallville''), started in the documentary business with a piece called ``Hardwood Dreams'' on the 1992 Morningside High basketball team (which has recently been released an updated DVD showing how those players fared 10 years later). Tollin's baseball-related documentaries include ``Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream,'' on Aaron's pursuit of Babe Ruth's all-time home run record, and another on Mike Schmidt's lead-up to his 500th home run.

It was on the Aaron documentary that Tollin first met Bonds and used his commentary. Bonds also made some appearances in Tollin's HBO series ``Arli$$.''

Rachel Vizcarra, Bonds' current publicist who worked with Tollin on some of his movie projects, approached Tollin about a documentary idea at the end of the 2004 season as Bonds neared his 700th homer. As it became apparent Bonds would play in 2006, the process to lock in the project and get everyone in place sped up over the past couple of weeks.

``From a storytelling perspective, ESPN considers Bonds the No. 1 sports story of the year,'' Tollin explained on how he was able to unite with the all-sports channel on the project. ESPN, the Giants and Bonds will be able to review episodes before they air, but ultimately, Tollin will make the final call.

``If we can paint a fuller, richer portrait of him and reveal things no one has seen, that's why I'm here,'' Tollin added. ``I'm dedicating myself to creating the template and tone, the style and attitude for it.

``My job isn't to change people's opinions about him. If we present a different side and in the process there's change, so be it. We have to be filmmakers and attack everything from all angles. We'll get all viewpoints about him.

``There was a concern Barry would use the show as mouthpiece and hide behind it, but he's more forthcoming in the press, so that fear has gone away. He realizes that part of us doing our job is seeing all his interactions.''

Meaning, the good, the bad and the Barry.

SOUND BYTES 

WHAT SMOKES

--What's in a name? For FSN Prime Ticket, it's more than just a nostalgia trip. The rebranding of FSN West 2 that officially takes place April 3 will - aside from game coverage of the Dodgers, Clippers and Mighty Ducks - focus more on in-house produced feature shows and local events. One of those is a new deal with the CIF to do state high school football, basketball, track and field, wrestling and volleyball. FSN West general manager Steve Simpson said results from focus groups taken last July and October reinforced his opinion that viewers were confused about the programming on either FSN West channels, and that FSN West 2 was often perceived as a ``leftover'' spot for FSN West, which carries the Lakers, Kings and Angels. Prime Ticket was the original name of the Southern California cable channel until it evolved into Fox Sports Net in 1985. ``The name Prime Ticket still resonates with viewers, and it was a hit for those who'd never heard of it before,'' Simpson said. ``The way we want to brand ourselves now it to give each channel its own identity.'' Part of the face-lift with FSN West programming is officially easing out the ``Southern California Sports Report'' format and replacing it with a live postgame show with more analysis and highlights from the just-finished contest. FSN West executive producer Tom Feuer notes that ratings spikes indicate a change in viewing habits for games - more were tuning in near the end of the games and staying with the post-game shows to catch up on what they missed and to get the important highlights.

WHAT CHOKES

--Here's how to suffocate an event: ESPN, Inc., claims that ``every ESPN entity - from multiple TV networks using different camera angles to Internet to cell phones'' will be at Saturday's North Carolina-Duke college basketball game. At 6 p.m., ESPN has the ``normal'' game with Brad Nessler, Dick Vitale and Erin Andrews. ESPN2 will also show it, but only from an ``above the rim'' camera angle. ESPNU covers it exclusively with cameras within the Duke students known as the ``Cameron Crazies.'' Extra stats and a customized broadband approach is on ESPN360. The game will also be on ESPN International, ESPN.com will have in-game polls, ESPNews has updates and the ESPN Zone restaurants are holding viewing parties. Somehow, they've left out Dan Patrick doing his impersonation of Mike Krzyzewski on ESPN Radio.

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SOUND BYTES (see text)

BY TOM HOFFARTH