The Nasty Nikki Finke is back

A kinder and gentler Nikki Finke returned to the entertainment blogosphere Thursday – NOT!

In her first post for “Nikki Finke: Live in Hollywood” — filed a minute after midnight — she set the tone: “I want to be your cruel and quirky alternative to Deadlame and Valiety and The Hollywood Unreported and TheCrap.”

Finke advised tipsters to “stay away from the personal,” but she didn’t miss a beat and picked up where she left off before being sidelined seven months ago by a noncompete with PMC.

Run by Jay Penske, PMC paid millions for Finke’s ground-breaking Deadline Hollywood blog in 2009. Then, after Penske added Variety to his PMC portfolio three years later, the pair had a train wreck of a falling out.

Penske made an appearance in Finke’s maiden post, presumably as “Little Lord Fauntleroy.” So did Deadline Hollywood newsbreaker Mike Fleming, whom Finke called “Mike Phlegming” even though they were best buds not that long ago.