TV Week: Dead Set, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Russell Brand's Ponderland

Unfortunately, Dead Set wasn't particularly interested in taking satirical swipes at "braindead" reality TV with its undead characters. The idea of an apocalyptic zombie tale, told from the perspective of Big Brother housemates, would have fuelled the imagination of zombie maestro George Romero, but Brooker avoids a lot of the cultural allegories you might have expected. It's a curious choice for a comedy writer, and one that stalled my appreciation of Dead Set for its opening few episodes.

Fortunately, despite an abundance of cliché, some formulaic plotting, half-sketched characters and a few disappointing creative choices (like keeping the best character, foulmouthed producer Patrick, stuck in an office defecating into a bin for two episodes), the climactic episodes were enjoyable and gruesome fun. The filming style accurately echoed the kinetic style employed in 28 Days Later, and there were plenty of effective, tense, exciting action scenes -- with enough blood and guts to satisfy gore-hounds. This five-night Halloween special was definitely a treat, but it perhaps could have done with a few tricks up its sleeve.

While it's true the James Cameron sci-fi movies are untouchable, TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES (VIRGIN1, THU 9PM) is more entertaining than a cash-in TV spin-off has any right to be. A surprise hit in the US earlier this year (helped by the fact it aired new episodes in the midst of a writers' strike), Sarah Connor Chronicles was also a noteworthy procurement for the fledgling Virgin1 here in the UK. Now, to paraphrase Arnold Schwarzenegger, it's back...

Sadly, ratings have fallen dramatically in the US (where it's shown in a super-competitive Monday night slot), although Fox have shown uncharacteristic faith by ordering a full 22-episode season. Ironically, while Chronicles hasn't totally shrugged off problem areas that blighted season 1 (limp heroine Sarah, her bland son John), Chronicles continues to exude the confidence it displayed in the final run of episodes last time. Helping to smooth the experience is a beautifully peculiar performance from Summer Glau (as cyborg protector Cameron), believable machismo from future-grunt Derek Reese (Brian Austin Green), and a more robust balance between character, plot and fan-pleasing in-jokes.

It's been a terrible week for popular, wild-haired comedian Russell Brand. After he and Jonathan Ross left lewd messages on actor Andrew Sachs' voicemail during a Radio 2 show, more than 18,000 complaints pushed him into parting company with the BBC. Inevitably, the tabloid furore over "Sachsgate" boosted the return of RUSSELL BRAND'S PONDERLAND (CHANNEL 4, THU 10.35PM) to 1 million viewers for the start of its second series.

Besides a better set, the bedrock of Ponderland's format remained the same: Brand introduces a funny clip from the TV archives, the footage is played to a live studio audience, and Brand finally dissects the clip by spinning it into a meandering, surreal few minutes of iffy stand-up. Some of it works, most of it doesn't. I've always found Brand an odd TV presence (his shark's grin, his big hair, those tight trousers), and much prefer his anarchic, playful radio persona without that visual distraction. It's just an ironic pity radio gave him enough rope to hang himself with, isn't it.