Sunday brings no fewer than four new series and an acclaimed import miniseries comes to PBS. The animated comedy “Bob’s Burgers” (7:30 p.m., Fox) attempts to mine awkward laughs from a fast-food franchise and offers only empty calories. Look for this to vanish quickly and leave room for Seth MacFarlane to offer more “Family Guy” clones.

• So far this season, NBC failed to find viewers for “Outlaw” and “Undercovers,” two over-the-top dramas. Will viewers warm to the new comic book adventure series “The Cape” (8 p.m., NBC)? It nicely blends the near-silliness of the old “Batman” TV series with the darker themes of the more recent “Dark Knight” gothic sagas.

The crisp, economical pilot offers heaps of character explanation and background. A good cop, Vince Faraday (David Lyons), is forced to assume the identity of his son’s favorite comic character after he is set up and betrayed by the tycoon Peter Fleming (James Frain), the head of an evil privatized police force posing as the city’s savior. Vince/The Cape is aided by a mysterious blogger, Orwell (Summer Glau), who appears to know all of the city’s secrets.

Vince’s transformation from cop to caped crusader is aided by Max Malini (Keith David), the ringleader of a circus gang of bank robbers. Their carnival of crime offers a dollop of camp in “The Cape’s” bleak landscape. Max also teaches Vince a lifetime of tricks and illusions in the space of a single montage.

We know Vince is driven by his desire to reunite with his wife and son, but his longing for them provides “The Cape” with some of its few maudlin moments and inspires some of its sappier soundtrack selections. But on balance, “The Cape” is a winner. A strong supporting cast, good villains and dynamic comic book plotting make “The Cape” a welcome does of escapist fun.

• Matt LeBlanc returns as himself in “Episodes” (8:30 p.m., Showtime), a light, slightly small, slightly addictive and entirely effervescent comedy about two British TV producers (Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig) stranded in Hollywood while trying to adapt their hit British sitcom for an impossible producer who insists on replacing an esteemed London stage actor with “Joey” from “Friends.” Befitting a comedy about a Hollywood-London culture clash, “Episodes” is co-produced by Showtime and the BBC.

• Don’t be fooled by the promotion. “Shameless” (9 p.m., Showtime) supposedly “stars” William H. Macy, but he shows up for about three or four minutes in the belabored pilot (an hour that felt like three) to introduce his kids and his character. After that, he’s either absent or passed out on the floor.

It’s sprawling and occasionally captivating but not believable for a second. Joan Cusack is wasted as a housewife character beyond parody. An ambitious misfire from producer John Wells that visits the upper realms of the lower depths with the kind of glib condescension that make a lot of people hate Hollywood.

• A very big hit in England, where it has been touted as the most watched costume TV drama since “Brideshead Revisited,” the “Masterpiece Classic” (8 p.m., PBS, check local listings) “Downton Abbey” returns the franchise to “Upstairs, Downstairs” territory. Part 1 of 4.