I don't remember anyone on here saying anything much about De Ridder or Forren, other than they'd never heard of them, just a couple of massive threads full of speculation. Lee was mainly hailed as our entry point into the Asian tv marketplace where the money is, iirc.
And as for the Forecast thing, I tend to agree with John Boy. It detracted attention from the loss of Bale and our general situation, publicity wise. Can't blame him for sitting on his 5-year deal and trousering the cash.