Ratings 1, Hollywood Egos 0
Earlier in the week, Deadline reported that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was split on whether or not to have Ricky Gervais back to host the Golden Globes. The more delusional of the bribe-taking, party-throwing group were worried that having Gervais back once again to take down the very Hollywood stars who attend the ceremonies would take away from the "prestige" of the event that wasn't above nominating the execreable "The Tourist" last year if only to force Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie to attend. Meanwhile, the more sensible half of the organization were heeding the pleas of NBC who were eager to benefit from the ratings Gervais would bring to the show. Add into the mix Gervais — who was publicly chastised by the HFPA following his gig last year — threatening a few months ago to do a Golden Globes live podcast along with some fellow comedians, and well, it's no surprise to see that he'll once again get a chance to skewer Hollywood.
Smarter heads have prevailed, and the HFPA has announced Gervais will be back and acknowledge not everyone in their camp is happy about it. While the awards themselves are mostly an expensive PR exercise, Gervias' presence has made the show a must-see, with jokes that go hard and aim very high. The HFPA has wisely realized that yeah, audiences like to see the glitz and glamor of Hollywood, but they also like to see these primped up stars taken down a notch, sometimes at the expense of a well-executed joke. And no one has done it better in recent years than Gervais.
The Golden Globes will be broadcast on January 15th. And if Gervais wants to start off on a conciliatory note this time around, he might make the first joke about his turn in "Spy Kids: All the Time in the World."
