Since last year’s Golden Globes were dominated by monster blockbusters Avatar and The Hangover, NBC execs wouldn’t have been surprised if this year’s telecast took a hit in the ratings. But turns out there was no need to worry: Ricky Gervais’s second (and, if Tom Cruise and John Travolta get their way, final) Globes actually attracted a tad more viewers than the 2010 show. Per Nielsen, 17 million folks tuned in Sunday versus 16.98 million last year. The kudos did decline about 5 percent among viewers under 50, but since The Social Network is no Hangover with the kiddies, that’s a pretty tiny slide. The 2011 Globes were also way up from 2009’s show, which managed fewer than 15 million viewers.