So tonight brings the TV broadcast of the Golden Globes, hosted by Ricky Gervais, whose hosting of the ceremony last year involved such prolonged and merciless mockery of Hollywood and its players it seemed certain he'd never be invited back.

But he was! And this year's Golden Globes is running with a "Uh oh! What's gonna come out of Ricky Gervais' mouth this year??" theme. Clearly, Gervais' truly biting comedy of last year (and the media hubbub that followed) was the most interesting thing ever to happen at the Golden Globes, with the benefits of the controversy outweighing the hurt feelings of megastars, and the Globes want more of that sweet Gervais poison. Which is great—I'm sure Ricky Gervais will be shockingly hilarious as always. (I love him, especially his outspoken atheism.) But NBC's cutesy handling of "the dangerous Gervais!" carries of whiff of both back-patting and troll-feeding.

But so what? Ricky Gervais being paid to mock everything America holds dear on prime-time television equals hurrah. Also, the Golden Globes have that interesting split between dramatic films and comedy/musical films, with each category calling for the traditional five-plus nominees, which enables enjoyable things like 50/50 and Bridesmaids being nominated for Best Picture (Comedy or Musical) and necessitates dumb things like Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet being nominated for Best Actress (Comedy or Musical) for their work in the godawful Carnage.

Shit goes down tonight at 5pm on NBC (with all the good bits popping up on YouTube soon after).