Krista Allen lands Significant role

In most descriptions of her many television roles, “sexy” is a qualifier for Krista Allen — and it’s working for her again.

The veteran of “Days of our Lives,” “What About Brian,” “Baywatch Hawaii” and countless guest shots on series from “Friends” to “The X-Files” is the “Significant Mother” in The CW sitcom premiering Monday. She plays a newly separated wife and mother who worries her restaurateur son (Josh Zuckerman) by dating his best friend (Nathaniel Buzolic) — which also reignites her husband’s (Jonathan Silverman) interest, prompting him to try to win her back.

“It’s really a dream role for me,” says Allen, “and it’s comedy, which is something I love doing. This character, Lydia Marlowe, is a woman who’s lived her life for everyone else. She is just starting to listen to her own needs and do what makes her happy … which currently is dating her son’s friend, but it evolves and becomes so much more than that. I guess you could say it’s a slightly delayed coming-of-age story for her.”

Actually, the coming-of-age notion applies to virtually everyone in “Significant Mother,” including Lydia’s mother. She’s played, in an extended guest role, by another familiar TV face: Linda Gray, legendary as Sue Ellen Ewing on both iterations of “Dallas.”

“She is so amazing,” Allen enthuses. “I’ve been a fan of hers for so long, I just loved having her around. I couldn’t think of a better person to play my TV mom, and she was really excited. She was like, ‘Nobody’s ever really given me a chance to do comedy before,’ and she had a lot of work to do, a lot of dialogue. And she killed it.”

“Significant Mother” originally was developed by writers and executive producers Erin Cardillo and Richard Keith, both actors as well, for The CW’s digital CW Seed outlet that also yielded last summer’s “Backpackers.” “They believed in the show so much, they just took us right to network,” Allen reflects, “so it’s already like, ‘OK, we’re doing something special here.’ And it’s really cool.”

Humorous as “Significant Mother” is meant to be, Allen believes it also has a serious undertone. “Lydia makes a ton of mistakes,” the actress allows, “but I find her to be quite relatable because of that. In trying to reinvent ourselves and change, we all stumble and fail as we try to do our best, and that’s what this character is doing through all of this. It’s not just the mom sleeping with her son’s best friend.”