Customer Reviews

"It was well made with interesting content. I watched the whole thing in 1 go."

"We used to watch the Frugal Gourmet every week and had his cook books. We found this documentary very enlightening and so disappointed that that he behaved so terribly."

"I’ve felt this could’ve been two episodes. It kind of dragged on and on. Also, I don’t feel it in depth enough."

"I remember watching the Frugal Gourmet years ago and enjoying his show. Little did I know that he had a dark side that he kept well-hidden from his audience. I think this docuseries was excellent, covering his growing up years through the decline of his career. I still can't believe all that happened and I feel for those young men that endured the abuse. The film was well researched and well told. Bravo. However, I want to make one thing clear that may have muddied the waters during the film. While Mr. Smith was a closeted homosexual, it wasn't his homosexuality that caused the abuse. He was a pedophile who happened to be homosexual. I think that is important to note."

"This was a very well done documentary. For me, someone who grew up watching The Frugal Gourmet in the Tacoma area, it was a telling of what happened to Jeff Smith, something I was always curious about. It was more than that though. It’s about the reconciliation of the dichotomy of good and bad. The good works that are out there done by people with troubled histories. It’s about how people view those bad acts in the moment and over time. It’s about how some people can remain purposefully ignorant to behavior they don’t want to see and how some people negotiate successfully the good and bad. It further explores a lack of accountability amongst the rich, powerful, and famous who are in a position to do the most harm. This is a very timely documentary beyond just one person. I am so impressed by the number of people willing to share their stories and experiences. Thank you."

"This was awesome!! As a teen, I wrote to Jeff and was invited to come down TWICE to two tapings. I went with my father. I was there the day he cut his finger and no one from the crew noticed. After the taping, he asked the crew “did anyone catch what I did?” No one noticed. Then he turned the right side of his apron over and you could see all the blood. Never stopped the taping and went right on through. That episode was all about rice. My father took me down to WTTW for the taping and he said “I sure hope he doesn’t cook anything with rice!” My father hated rice from his days of working on a garbage truck. Reminded him of maggots!! lol. And sure enough, the entire episode was all about rice. Jeff was an absolute pleasure to watch. He was very kind to me on both occasions and we coresponded for a while afterwards. I’m sad that there are people who were hurt by him and I believe it’s wrong what he was accused of doing. However, that doesn’t change my mind on how I feel about him."

"I had always wanted to know a fuller telling of what the allegations regarding Jeff Smith. As viewers and fans of The Frugal Gourmet, I only knew the on air persona. However, this series is showing me the behind the scenes aspect of him. The series has been informative and answered questions. I think it's been done very well."

"Great documentary"

"Well done overall. Should get picked up by streamers, I think there is a def an audience for this. I do think this could have been 4 episodes instead of 5, a tad redundant at times. The take away from people in his life is deeply concerning honestly, don't want to spoil anything. I will leave it at that."

"I found the documentary was very well researched and filmed. There were several points of view and this presented the viewers with many sides and allowed for making your own thoughts about the story. I agree he was genius in his approach to culinary arts and was a great teacher… the rest… detestable in my opinion … a real sad story indeed. Thank you."

"i enjoyed the series and felt it did a good job presenting all the facts and stories from the people that were affected by this horrible time in their lives."

"Interesting documentary and covering a topic I (surprisingly) wasn’t aware of previously. That said, there was a lot of repetition contributing to the 5 full episodes yet not enough background on Jeff’s personal and family life. The first few episodes felt like a love letter and then out of nowhere was this sex abuse angle which wasn’t all that well developed from a holistic point of view."