Business Notes BROADCASTING

It's not easy being green, but that's nothing compared with explaining the stock-market crash in an entertaining fashion. That is why Ted Koppel, anchor of ABC's Nightline, last week called upon Kermit the Frog and a passel of other Muppets to help analyze the crash -- and to help keep latenight viewers from falling asleep -- in a special three-hour edition of the show.

Chiming in via satellites from Tokyo to Frankfurt were 18 human guests, including Nobel-prizewinning Economists Robert Solow and Milton Friedman, Supply-Sider Arthur Laffer, Corporate Raider Irwin Jacobs, House Budget Committee Chairman William Gray, Financial Guru Howard Ruff and an assortment of bankers, brokers, psychologists and other experts. Meanwhile, on pretaped segments interspersed through the show, Anchorfrog Kermit, in blue suit and striped tie, discussed the budget deficit, the national debt and contrarian investing, for example, while Fozzie Bear commented on (what else?) the bear market. Said Koppel: "When I hear the experts talking about the stock market and the economy, my eyes glaze over. But the Muppets are cute and adorable, and they're wonderful educators. They explain complex matters in terms that we can all understand." But when Koppel asked about pork bellies, Miss Piggy stormed off the set.