Jeffrey L. Smith was the author of several cookbooks and host of The Frugal Gourmet. The show began in Tacoma, Washington, as Cooking Fish Creatively on local PBS station KTPS (now KBTC), where it aired from 1973 to 1977. Smith was regarded as a "genius" by some and a "tyrant" by others. In 1997, seven men filed a civil lawsuit against Smith, charging him with sexual abuse.