I settled down to watch The Golden Globes on a channel I haven't previously watched, E!. Let's face it, there is only one reason why everyone in the UK who tuned in, actually tuned in and committed to staying up into the early hours of the morning, and that reason was Ricky Gervais. The thing in particular that we all waited for was his opening monologue, in which he tears into the assembled Hollywood egos in the room. Last year critics said he would never be invited back, and he says he only did it again because he wanted to prove them wrong.

You would think that a channel that broadcasts in the UK would be aware of the ratings given that Ricky Gervais was back, and made sure that the broadcast went off without a hitch. Wrong. The only reason for anyone over here watching didn't happen at all. The live broadcast picked up during Ricky's speech, and then went to adverts, then trailers, and then a series of overlong film promos, (or 'infomercials' as they call them over there). The awards show itself was chopped and buggered about with in such a way it could raise blood pressure and bring on headaches. They also bleeped far too much out, not just swear words, but entire sentences so it became like watching a live Big Brother feed.

On Twitter, people were expressing their frustration at the cack-handed way that the UK broadcast was being handled. Luckily, YouTube came to the rescue fairly early on, bringing us Ricky's input. I suppose there will now be a wave of criticism that he wasn't as harsh as last year, based on the fact that he wasn't as harsh as last year. Compared to last year, he certainly has had his edges smoothed out, perhaps he had been given a little talking to?