Denny’s makes the nation an offer it can’t refuse in the rare Super Bowl ad for a table-service restaurant.

“Ever wonder why movie mobsters won't use a phone but will sit in a diner booth loudly discussing their plans?" wrote Ad Age reviewer Bob Garfield, who gave “Serious” 3.5 stars in his annual Super Bowl run-down. "So did Denny's, which shows us a table of wiseguys planning a whack -- but interrupted by a cheerful waitress spraying aerosol whipped cream onto their happy-face pancakes. Hilarious. Plus ... a free breakfast for everybody in America? Amazing, if it doesn't backfire. (We suppose delivery is out of the question.)”

It did not backfire -- Denny's and the agency behind "Serious," Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, came back to the Super Bowl in 2010 to give away not just a free breakfast the Tuesday after the game ("Chickens Across America") but an additional free breakfast on customers' birthdays ("Chicken Birthday").

Director: The Perlorian Brothers. Production company: Furlined. Director of photography: Robert Yeoman. Executive producer: David Thorne. Producer: Jay Shapiro. 

Executive creative director: Jeff Goodby. Group creative Director: Jim Elliott. Associate creative director: Chris Toland. Art directors: Mike Coyne, Croix Gagnon. Art director/copywriter: David Kolbusz. Copywriters: Brian Ahern, Will Elliott. Agency producers: Jon Drawbaugh, Rob Sondik.

VFX: Brickyard. Lead 2D artist: Patrick Poulatian. Visual effects executive producer: Diana Young. Editorial: HutchCo Technologies. Editor: Jim Hutchins. Telecine: Company 3. Colorist: Stefan Sonnenfeld. Graphics: Brand New School.

BRAND: Denny's

YEAR: 2009

AGENCY: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

SUPERBOWL: XLIII

QUARTER AIRED: Q3