TV This Week

SUNDAY

When contestants on the British edition of “Big Brother” are besieged by zombies, is it OK to root for the zombies? IFC gets into the Halloween spirit with a marathon of all five episodes of the imported horror-comedy mash-up “Dead Set.” (IFC, 7:30 p.m.)

Speaking of spooky, “The Phantom of the Opera” is here — the classic 1925 silent, that is, not the more recent film version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. “Man of a Thousand Faces” Lon Chaney (below right, with Mary Philbin) stars. (10:30 p.m. TCM)

MONDAY

“Saturday Night Live” has always been something of a boys’ club, but now … it’s ladies night! Tina Fey, Laraine Newman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Kristen Wiig are just some of “The Women of SNL” featured in this new special mixing classic clips and new sketches. You’ve come a long way, baby! (NBC, 9 p.m.)

TUESDAY

Ellen DeGeneres — stand-up comic, sitcom star, “American Idol” judge for about 10 minutes, and heiress-apparent to Oprah’s daytime talk-show crown — is profiled on a new episode of “Biography.” (Bio, 7 and 11 p.m.)

WEDNESDAY

Send in the clowns … and the jugglers, trapeze artists, tightrope walkers and animal acts. The six-part series “Circus” takes you under the big top and behind the scenes to reveal the personal and professional costs of keeping such a show on the road. (KCET, 9:30 p.m.)

THURSDAY

A sex scandal? In Washington, D.C., you say? Who’d have thunk it? Our high-kicking heroine (Maggie Q) finds herself in the middle of same on a new episode of the action drama “Nikita.” (The CW, 8 p.m.)

FRIDAY

“So a guy walks into a bar, and …” “You stink!” “Hey, pal, I’m working up here.” Yes, stand-up comics will find themselves heckled by one of their own — funnyman Doug Benson — in the new series “Benson Interruption.” (Comedy Central, midnight)

SATURDAY

Two movies that are too big for most TVs to handle come to the small screen: James Cameron’s effects-laden 2009 sci-fi blockbuster “Avatar” and Terry Gilliam’s little-seen 2009 fantasy-fable “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” featuring the late Heath Ledger (below). (HBO, 8 p.m.; Starz, 9 p.m.)