• by Wayne Friedman , March 8, 2011

Moving further into original Web TV entertainment, Ben Silverman's Electus studio has kicked off a new series called "Always Open" for restaurant chain Denny's.

Riffing off the company's longtime tagline, Silverman has partnered with DumbDumb, Will Arnett and Jason Bateman's digital content studio. Electus is a digital business of Barry Diller's IAC.

The company says the Web series is an extension of Denny's latest nationwide campaign developed by Interpublic Group's advertising agency Gotham. Ensemble, the branded entertainment arm of Interpublic Group's Mediabrands, played a role in the development of the partnership and series.

"Always Open" will be distributed across CollegeHumor.com, Denny's.com, and DumbDumb.com as well as YouTube, Facebook and other social platforms.

All episodes take place in a live and working Denny's restaurant, where David Koechner of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" and "The Office" meets up with some of his comedic friends in three-minute interviews. Will Arnett, Sarah Silverman, Amy Poehler, Will Forte and Kristin Bell are among the talent set to appear. But other less professional talent will become involved as well, including diners and Denny's employees.

"When we created the 'always open' brand platform for Denny's, we did it with every intention of spreading that message across all media platforms," stated Marty Orzio, chief creative officer at Gotham.

Laura Caraccioli-Davis, executive vice president of advertising solutions of Electus, added: "As one of America's most iconic brands, we are excited to team up with Denny's to not only create great content, but to help the brand express its values and personality to a broad audience -- and to truly enhance its presence nationwide."

The first Webisode is currently available; the following two episodes air on Wednesday, March 23 and Wednesday, April 6.

Electus has started a number of Web-series programming efforts since its launch a few years ago. Last November, it partnered to debut "AOL Daybreak," a morning news roundup with a lighthearted take on recent headlines on the company's home page. More recently, Electus announced a deal with DiGa, a new digital production company headed ex-MTV programming executives Tony DiSanto and Liz Gateley.