"Mean" Joe Greene finally got what was coming to him -- and it wasn't a blindside tackle. Thirty years after appearing in one of television's most iconic ads, the former Pittsburgh Steelers player and four-time Super Bowl champion was finally given an award for his part in a 1979 Coca-Cola commercial that has been cited as one of the best in television advertising history.

The ad shows the defensive tackle limping off the field and into the locker room, when a young fan stops Greene to tell him just how great he is and offers him a bottle of Coke. After a bit of coaxing, Greene accepts the drink and shows his gratitude by flipping his jersey to the youthful admirer. The ad concludes with the brand's famous tagline at the time, "Have a Coke and a smile."

Critics of health-care insurance overhaul legislation, currently being debated in the U.S. Senate, have charged that any change to the existing system will result in greater numbers of unhappy patients. A new survey of satisfaction among consumers with health coverage, however, shows promise that it is possible to cover everyone and still have satisfied patients.

Consumers are notoriously fickle in their allegiances and interests -- remember those food-assembly kitchens that were all the rage a few years ago? But the recession has sobered buying habits, and increasingly, more companies are viewing Americans' recent conversion to thrift as a long-term trend, not simply flash-in-the-pan fascination.

In an attempt to cash-in on this new sensibility, businesses are keen on promoting their products as a good deal. That's why, for example, Clorox Co. isn't raising prices on its improved trash can liners and Campbell Soup Co. has reduced the promotional price of its V8 brand vegetable juice by 17%, according to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

Think you're seeing a lot more glum faces in your neighborhood? That's likely the case if you live in one of four states with high home-foreclosure rates: Florida, Nevada, California and Arizona. Those normally majestic, carefree states ranked as the least happiest, at least when it comes to money matters, a new survey shows.

And where might you find some of the most smiley people? According to Mainstreet.com's Happiness Index, dead in the center of the country, where some of the country's least densely populated states can be found. Nebraska was at the top of heap, followed by Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma and Montana.

You'd think any fast-food chain would have taken a lesson from KFC and the Great Free Chicken Fiasco of 2009 and avoid offering customers an outrageous deal via the Internet, where word of just about anything -- good or bad -- can spread faster than greased lightning.

Nevertheless, Boston Market stepped into similar pile of fowl doo-doo last week when it offered its loyal customers a coupon for a $1 chicken entree via its Web site. While not free, it was still one hen of a deal. For $1, diners got a choice of a quarter white or 3-piece dark chicken dinner, along with mashed potatoes and cornbread. Vegetables weren't part of the deal.

Advocates for lower cost health care have for some time argued that arming consumers with data about the costs of medical procedures would help drive down prices.

Insurers, however, have kept a tight lid on what they pay doctors and other health care providers, arguing that such information is proprietary and disclosure would put them at a competitive disadvantage.

But now a bevy of new Web sites can help consumers learn just how much services costs, reports the Wall Street Journal (subscription required). The sites cull information from a variety of resources, including insurers, government agencies, Internet companies and health-care providers.

The sites, nearly two dozen of them, aren't perfect, the Journal notes, but they can provide a rough idea of typical costs in your area.

It's been clear for some time now that the recession has taken its toll on consumers, leading them in many instances to winnow purchases down to the bare necessities. And the food industry, always on the outlook for a new gimmick to sell its wares, is paying attention.

It's one reason you may have seen the word "simple" or "simply" appearing on more packaging. Marketers such as Starbucks, Kraft and Campbell's are paring down ingredients and using simpler language on their product labels, as a way to appeal to a new generation of thrift-seeking consumers.

In a seemingly Scrooge-like move, Hollywood studios may soon restrict newly released DVDs to sales-only for several weeks before allowing them to be available for rental from places such as Netflix, Blockbuster or your local video store.

Keen on reversing the trend of falling DVD sales and dwindling revenues, movie studios are considering such plans that would likely begin next year, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing people close to situation at several studios. And what does DVD-by-mail giant Netflix have to say about it?

Jay Leno's move to prime time was viewed by some as a savvy show business decision. A popular, well-known comedian, the former host of the Tonight Show would provide NBC with a cheap, talk-show alternative to the network's previous line-up of dramatic programming, which is costly to produce. Or so it was thought.

With ratings numbers continuing to fall, however, NBC affiliates aren't feeling nearly as sanguine as the network itself, the New York Post reports. After a solid start last month, ratings have a slipped to a quarter of what they once were. That has local news programs nervous, as they count on viewers of 10 P.M. shows to stick around for the 11 P.M. news. (Unless you're in the Central or Mountain times zones, where everything is on an hour earlier.)

Think your kid's college bill is pricey? Think again. For the second year in a row, Sarah Lawrence College has the dubious distinction of being the nation's most expensive place to attend college -- a whopping $54,410 for the current 2009-10 school year, including tuition, plus room and board, according to data compiled by CampusGrotto.com.

Of course, for that price, students get the distinction of attending one of the finest colleges in the country. Most of the colleges in the 100 most expensive colleges ranking are private liberal-arts universities in the Northeast.

CampusGrotto notes that while the current school year saw one of the smallest increases in costs in decades, expenses still rose 4.3%. By contrast, the annual rate of inflation in the United States fell 1.3% in September. Many of the colleges on the list now cost around $50,000 a year to attend.