Christina Applegate is an actress badly in need of a new image.

For 10 years, she portrayed, perhaps too well, uber-bimbo Kelly Bundy of the breakout Fox comedy “Married … With Children.” A handful of feature-film roles have done little to erase Kelly from the viewing public’s minds.

Applegate has now found the right showcase in “Jesse,” debuting at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24, on NBC. In the new romantic comedy, she gets to play a three-dimensional woman instead of a stereotype, and she does so with a heretofore unseen depth.

Applegate’s character is Jesse Warner, a 26-year-old single mother who works as a server at Der Biergarten, her father’s German-themed restaurant-bar in Buffalo. George Dzundza portrays her stolid father, John Warner Sr., a Bunkerian archetype who is more than a little bigoted, but who cares for his daughter very much in a gruff sort of way. Jesse has a 10-year-old son, Little John (played by Eric Lloyd), and she dreams of going to nursing school.

Living with Jesse is her older brother, John Jr. (John Lehr), who goes by Junior and who ceased talking the previous year. Her other brother, Derek (David DeLuise), is an unsuccessful entrepreneur (his current pipedream is selling hundreds of garden gnomes to Home Depot).

Complicating life for Jesse is her charming new neighbor, Chilean immigrant Diego (played by Bruno Campos). Of course, Jesse’s father takes an instant dislike to Diego, which leads to spirited exchanges between the two. When Jesse and Diego first meet, he borrows a can opener. Later, John Sr. asks, “Did you bring the can opener back?,” to which Diego replies, “No, I traded it for a [kilo].”

Applegate is believeable and winning as a young woman torn between responsibility (to her son, her brothers and her father) and hope (for a better life and perhaps a romance with Diego).

The rest of the cast is equally inviting. TV veteran Dzundza (the first actor out the revolving door of “Law and Order”) makes John Sr. likable, despite oftentimes questionable attitudes. As Junior, Lehr speaks volumes without actually saying a word.

“Jesse” comes from Bright-Kauffman-Crane Productions, the proven team behind two other NBC hits, “Friends” and “Veronica’s Closet.” The rookie sitcom will get the plum slot between “Friends” and “Frasier,” so it should get the time it needs to build on a promising beginning.

The world of “Jesse” is worth a visit, and Applegate should be happy she settled there.