Am I Normal? (BBC2) was a question posed by clinical psychologist Dr Tanya Byron. Of course, Tanya isn't 'normal' because she's a TV celebrity. She made her name as an expert on child behaviour in Little Angels and The House of Tiny Tearaways, and also courted notoriety by co-writing the awful Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle with Jennifer Saunders.

In the first of a four-part series, Dr Byron tackled the subject of addiction, asking "At what point does a normal habit or pleasure become something abnormal - or more damaging?" Most psychologists today regard addiction as a disease, but Byron asked if it could simply be a choice that people make. One man said that, if he started using alcohol or drugs, he couldn't stop, but Tanya failed to ask him why he started in the first place. Statistics suggest that 60 to 70 per cent of addicts simply stop their addictive behaviour voluntarily or because they have grown out of it. An obsessive gambler said that she had to stop when the money ran out and she realised her habit was having harmful physical effects. Perhaps regarding addiction as inevitably a disease is making an illness out of what we used to call bad behaviour.

Child Genius (Channel; 4) revisited some highly gifted children we first met in 2005. They are certainly not 'normal' in the generally accepted sense, as most of them have extremely high IQs. As I observed when we saw the first series, the children can be disquieting because they sometimes seem isolated but their parents are often much more worrying: pushing their children too hard. For example, three-year-old Georgia had an IQ of 152 but her mother had her retested in an attempt to get her into a 'good' school. Georgia's new IQ was 170 but she wasn't accepted by the school, at which her mother burst into tears - upsetting Georgia. Meanwhile young Adam's parents sent him to a boarding school, hoping it would get him into Eton, but when Adam started mixing with 'normal' children, his parents were disappointed because "Adam doesn't seem to be gifted at all any more".

The Kids Are All Right (BBC1) is a new Saturday-evening quiz show which puts four adults in competition with seven "supersmart superkids" with strange names like Lentil and Miracle. Unfortunately, the superkids failed to beat the adults in the first two rounds. Even Miracle proved less than miraculous. This is a feeble basis for a very ordinary quiz show. The only commendable thing about it is that "All Right" is spelt all right.

Over on ITV, weak programmes continue to make Saturday nights an endurance test. All Star Mr & Mrs (ITV1) employs a format that is at least 40 years old, with the inevitable modern twist that this series features 'celebrities', not ordinary married couples. 'All Star' in the title is unjustified, since we may know the three celebrities featured but we know little about their spouses. This didn't stop the studio audience being as raucously enthusiastic as a Cup Final crowd.

This is followed by a new series of Britain's Got Talent (ITV1), which includes the unavoidable Ant & Dec as well as the obnoxious Simon Cowell. Like Cowell's numerous other shows, it offers opportunities to laugh at the untalented as well as marvel at the talented. At least this show proves that audiences still want good old-fashioned variety acts.

This is followed by Pushing Daisies (ITV1), an American import whose title is reminiscent of Six Feet Under, as both series concern death. But comparing Six Feet Under with Pushing Daisies is like confusing chalk with cheese - and rather rancid cheese at that. Pushing Daisies is about a man who finds he can revive the dead by touching them - but he can kill them by touching them again. It's a twee fantasy made more unbearable by a mannered commentary which tells us the plot, absolving the actors from having to act.