- 5/22/2025
From 90s heartthrob to Hollywood’s cautionary tale, Sasha Mitchell’s story is wild! Rising as Cody Lambert on Step by Step (1991–1998) and James Beaumont on Dallas (1989–1991), this taekwondo black belt and Kickboxer star (1990–1994) dazzled with his charm and martial arts skills. But domestic violence convictions in 1996 derailed his career, leading to his firing from Step by Step. We explore his modeling days with Bruce Weber, his comeback attempts in films like Drunk Parents (2019), and his post-acting life as a welder and Harley enthusiast. Did false allegations or personal demons bring him down? Share your thoughts below! #SashaMitchell #StepByStep #Dallas #Kickboxer #90sNostalgia #RiseAndFall #HollywoodScandal #CodyLambert #MartialArts #90sTV #Throwback #PopCulture #Wrestling #Taekwondo #DomesticViolence #90s #2000s #TVHistory #ForgottenStars #Nostalgia #BizarreHollywood #RetroTV #ActorLife #Scandal #Comeback #HarleyDavidson #Viral
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FunTranscript
00:00:00Whoa! Doodsy! Dana Burger!
00:00:04If you knew that I was referencing the Code Man from Step by Step,
00:00:08then you're the exact person that will appreciate today's deep dive.
00:00:12Oh, not right now, Uncle Frank.
00:00:14I want to get this lasso and stuff mastered before the Wild West Cowboys of Moo Mesa comes on.
00:00:18Whatever happened to Sasha Mitchell?
00:00:20You know, the guy who played Cody on Step by Step?
00:00:23This channel loves TGIF stuff.
00:00:25And, well, this is one of those mysteries that I wanted to kind of solve.
00:00:31Since the algorithms know me so well,
00:00:33I'll often get articles like TV stars that were fired from their hit show.
00:00:38And they always include Sasha Mitchell.
00:00:41How did he go from breakout star of Step by Step to completely off the show?
00:00:49Ooh!
00:00:51Yikes!
00:00:52Ooh, yeah, I can see why he was fired from the show.
00:00:56Yeah, that's not good.
00:00:58And I see that headline, and I want to know more.
00:01:01But wait a minute.
00:01:02What's the full story?
00:01:03Because Sasha Mitchell does come back for one of the last episodes of Season 7.
00:01:07And these articles often have his name associated with negative articles like
00:01:12stars fired by major TV shows,
00:01:15reasons why I'll never watch Step by Step again.
00:01:18I ran across this Bustle article,
00:01:20and it points out that he did have a troubling arrest in 1995
00:01:24for beating his wife.
00:01:26And it doesn't look like one of those situations where you could argue that,
00:01:29you know, it's he said, she said.
00:01:31He was convicted.
00:01:33He was given three years of probation
00:01:35and ordered to perform community service
00:01:37and attend counseling classes for spouse abusers.
00:01:41And he didn't comply.
00:01:42So he spent 30 days in jail.
00:01:44But then they'd allow him to leave
00:01:46to go film his parts on the wholesome sitcom Step by Step.
00:01:49We would always film on Friday nights.
00:01:53I know.
00:01:55So none of this is adding up,
00:01:57because if he's so bad,
00:01:59why is he still allowed to do the show?
00:02:01Is Hollywood that morally?
00:02:03Yes, it is.
00:02:04The ladies screamed for Cody.
00:02:06Maybe some boys do, I don't know.
00:02:07But the ladies in particular loved Cody.
00:02:10So that's why these stories always felt incomplete to me.
00:02:13If Sasha Mitchell was such a bad guy,
00:02:15why did they not fire him?
00:02:17Why did the jail still let him go to set?
00:02:19Why would Step by Step still take him back?
00:02:21Maybe everybody dealt with it
00:02:23because they knew what I knew.
00:02:25Cody is the reason you watch Step by Step, okay?
00:02:28It's the reason that way back,
00:02:30I made a Top 10 Cody Lambert video.
00:02:32Step by Step was an American sitcom
00:02:35that starred TV veterans Patrick Duffy and Suzanne Somers.
00:02:39And they were both coming off huge 80s hit shows.
00:02:43In fact, Patrick Duffy was just coming off Dallas
00:02:46when he landed the role for Step by Step.
00:02:49When the show was finally canceled,
00:02:51that was the first phone call I got.
00:02:52They said, we want you to come and do this show called Step by Step.
00:02:55Step by Step aired in the classic TGIF block on ABC.
00:02:59Full house, family matters,
00:03:01Step by Step, perfect strangers,
00:03:03and then at one point it was Boy Meets World.
00:03:05There was a Going Places.
00:03:07In the pilot episode of Step by Step,
00:03:09we find out that Carol Foster and Frank Lambert
00:03:13secretly got married.
00:03:15It's a brand new show called Step by Step, and it's up next.
00:03:18Carol Foster and Frank Lambert meet on a vacation in Jamaica
00:03:22that launches them on an adventure of a lifetime.
00:03:24I'm getting a vision.
00:03:25I see a woman, I see a man.
00:03:27Whoa, I see six kids under one roof.
00:03:30I see an enormous line for the bathroom.
00:03:32Let's just see the show.
00:03:34Now, how are they gonna break this news to each of their three kids?
00:03:37Yes, Step by Step had a lot in common
00:03:40with the 70s show, The Brady Bunch.
00:03:43And while Step by Step was not an immediate success,
00:03:46the show would last seven seasons.
00:03:50We survived for seven years on the air.
00:03:53That's a huge successful run nowadays.
00:03:57Seven seasons.
00:03:59Longer than you were on Three's Company.
00:04:01Critics weren't sure about it,
00:04:03and it didn't get the greatest of ratings in the beginning.
00:04:07All of this stuff I didn't really remember,
00:04:09but my mom does.
00:04:10ABC believed in it.
00:04:12The producers believed in it.
00:04:13They believed in the concept of it.
00:04:15And it took six or seven shows for it to really catch on
00:04:19in that family for the ratings not to drop.
00:04:21And a big reason the show lasted seven seasons
00:04:25was Sasha Mitchell's character of Cody Lambert.
00:04:29Cody was introduced as Frank Lambert's nephew.
00:04:32Some people would call him a Keanu Reeves knockoff,
00:04:36a surfer, slacker dude.
00:04:39But you know what?
00:04:40There was a lot more to the Cody Lambert character.
00:04:43Nobody expected Cody to be the character.
00:04:46Cody was a guest star.
00:04:48Cody just came on for like an episode or two.
00:04:51But the ladies loved Cody.
00:04:54He was the breakout star on our show
00:04:57like the Fonz was on Happy Days.
00:04:59The character of Cody Lambert was first introduced
00:05:01on Step by Step in the episode First Anniversary,
00:05:05the fourth episode of the first season.
00:05:08I'm Frank's nephew.
00:05:10Oh.
00:05:11The two of them had already played uncle and nephew
00:05:14on the huge hit 80s show Dallas.
00:05:17You didn't watch Dallas, but you were like Patrick Duffy's nephew
00:05:20and then you have the big run on Step by Step
00:05:23where you're Patrick Duffy's nephew.
00:05:25Yeah, exactly. Isn't that funny?
00:05:27Little known fact, wasn't Sasha Mitchell on the show?
00:05:30Sasha was on the show.
00:05:31Oh, you're kidding.
00:05:32He was your nephew?
00:05:33He was my nephew Larry's illegitimate son.
00:05:35What role?
00:05:36I played James Richard, like J.R. James Richard, Beaumont.
00:05:41I was like an illegitimate son, showed up when I was like 20 already.
00:05:45Wasn't he your nephew on Step by Step too?
00:05:47He was my nephew on Step by Step.
00:05:49He just follows you around being your nephew.
00:05:51As a matter of fact, he's got to be.
00:05:53I was like, please.
00:05:54You know, I always felt that in a past life
00:05:57I was an oil baron or a rancher.
00:06:00You think anyone would believe that I was once
00:06:02one of the most powerful millionaires in Dallas?
00:06:07Nah.
00:06:08And I actually thanked him profusely for getting me the job
00:06:12and he was like, no man, they didn't even tell me you were coming.
00:06:14Step by Step was very similar to its TGIF counterpart, Family Matters.
00:06:19In fact, according to my video, they're in the same universe.
00:06:23To our favorite ABC show, Step by Step. Bottoms up.
00:06:29That Step by Step was a really great show.
00:06:31I truly enjoyed it. It's fun, don't you know?
00:06:33A laugh with Step by Step.
00:06:35You think you can find love in a motorcycle magazine?
00:06:37That's where I found my bike and I love that.
00:06:39That stuff is Step by Step.
00:06:41In the Family Matters universe,
00:06:43even though the show was based on the Winslow family,
00:06:46the moment we saw Urkel, that was the star.
00:06:49That kind of happened here.
00:06:51The Lambert and the Foster families were the ones that we were initially introduced to.
00:06:56And yet, as soon as Cody showed up, he became the breakout star.
00:07:00Something that Christine Lankin would even confirm on her podcast.
00:07:04And I get it. You could hear audibly the screams
00:07:07because we taped in front of a live studio audience.
00:07:09So when you have a breakout character like that,
00:07:12much like Urkel was,
00:07:14they capitalized on it.
00:07:16They realized this is a character we now need to have on the show.
00:07:20So that became another person within the integral family to write for.
00:07:24Sasha Mitchell became the face of Step by Step.
00:07:28Why else would the Codeman be all over the advertising?
00:07:41If you had a circus with the stars,
00:07:44let's invite Sasha.
00:07:46He could talk up Carlton Banks doing some sort of depth-defying feat.
00:07:50Hi everybody, I'm Sasha Mitchell.
00:07:52You know me as Cody on the comedy Step by Step.
00:07:55But tonight I'm serious when I say let's hope the spin of that wheel is a lucky one for Alfonso.
00:07:59Wasn't this show about the Fosters and the Lamberts?
00:08:02Not according to the marketing.
00:08:04Deciphering the Codeman.
00:08:06Translation?
00:08:07Life is an existential conundrum.
00:08:09Step by Step.
00:08:11I bet ABC's PGIF is a lot more fun than having a date.
00:08:15You'd lose that bet.
00:08:16I bet Cody and J.P. have fun when they start a business.
00:08:19Don't go away. We're ready to hook you up with more laughs.
00:08:22Next on Step by Step, Dana studies Cody for his psychology class.
00:08:26Next, Cody's dad gives him a present that can change his life.
00:08:30It's time for the season premiere of Step by Step where you teach Mark Karate.
00:08:33Cody, what's next on your PGIF chow down?
00:08:36Don't tell me. Wisconsin cheese?
00:08:38Not just any cheese. Cheese in a can.
00:08:44I hear Cody's going to college.
00:08:46We're just beginning to roll. There's two more funny shows to go.
00:08:49Next, Cody takes over Story Hour.
00:08:51On Step by Step, somebody thinks they're pregnant.
00:08:53Really? Who?
00:08:54I'll give you a hint, Mark. It's not Cody.
00:08:57Shoot. That was my first guess.
00:08:59Dana discovers she's allergic to Cody and Cody may have to move out.
00:09:02There's not a Cody t-shirt or a doll or something.
00:09:05You know, I was so surprised by that.
00:09:07Totally. I'm actually surprised by that too.
00:09:09And Sasha Mitchell's real life hobbies started working their way on to Step by Step.
00:09:14So even if you never saw a kickboxer movie, you could still see Sasha Mitchell kick some butt on Step by Step.
00:09:21Some episodes even showcase Sasha's fighting skills.
00:09:24You got to do martial arts in there. Was that your idea or was that the producer's idea?
00:09:29You know, like when we signed up, yeah, you know, I think that was like probably the second or third season.
00:09:38I told them, I said, look, I got to go and leave and do a feature during these couple of weeks.
00:09:45If you want me to stay, I'll stay, but I've got to go do this movie.
00:09:51But I'll sign the contract and whatever.
00:09:53And that, you know, made them aware of my martial arts movies and things like that.
00:10:00And so I think it was just bankable.
00:10:03You know, if there's another audience that'll watch Step by Step for martial arts that are already martial arts fans,
00:10:09that follow Sasha, maybe we could drop in, you know, that kind of thing.
00:10:13Really well, he even brought Gene LaBelle in.
00:10:15I remember we had him on Step by Step.
00:10:18He was in there a couple of times.
00:10:21He was on Family Matters with Jaleel.
00:10:25One time I walked in, it was so funny.
00:10:27All the producers were there and they were just in the next stage over from us.
00:10:31And I walked in there, you know, and I saw him right away.
00:10:34I bowed, I'm like, sensei!
00:10:36And all these people are standing there, they don't know who he is.
00:10:38They hired him to be like a referee, because he does that sometimes, you know, in the ring.
00:10:44And he's done that in movies.
00:10:45He was the referee, if you watch, in Kickboxer 2.
00:10:49He was the guy in the ring on that, Gene LaBelle.
00:10:51So they're all looking at me like, this is Cody, right from the stage next door.
00:10:56Why is he bowing to the ref?
00:10:58It was so funny.
00:10:59But, um, that was a lot of fun.
00:11:01So what happened to the character of Cody?
00:11:03You're watching for almost five seasons and he's the main part of the show.
00:11:08And now he's just gone.
00:11:11With a few passing mentions as we go through season six.
00:11:15Listen, this isn't really a good time to talk, Cody.
00:11:18Yeah, well, I'd love to hear about your new job in Russia, Cody, but I'm a little busy right now.
00:11:22We almost went a full season before we even knew where Cody went.
00:11:27It must have also been wild for the fans to hear the real life story.
00:11:31On the show, Cody Lambert is a guy with a strong moral code.
00:11:36And now we hear that the real life guy, he's off beating his wife.
00:11:40Didn't he do time?
00:11:42He beat up his girlfriend.
00:11:44This is the guy who ruined his career because he beat his wife.
00:11:48Oh my God, he kicked her and he caused a miscarriage?
00:11:51There was supposedly even an interview where Patrick Duffy admitted
00:11:54that's what got Sasha Mitchell fired from Step by Step.
00:11:57So let's start from the very beginning.
00:12:00What was Sasha Mitchell like before the fame?
00:12:04Sasha Mitchell worked as a male model.
00:12:06And he had been modeling in L.A. since he was 17.
00:12:09With names that you've actually heard of.
00:12:12Wait, I started out actually the Calvin Klein stuff.
00:12:15So it was modeling, like Calvin Klein and all that.
00:12:18But he wasn't just some pretty boy male model.
00:12:21The dude could legitimately fight.
00:12:23He was an actual athlete.
00:12:25I started boxing like everybody else.
00:12:28Regular American boxing, like the P.A.L.
00:12:31So they have these things in New York called the Police Athletic League.
00:12:34And kids go there and beat the crap out of each other.
00:12:38I think boxing was very first.
00:12:40Even at the P.A.L., I used to go to the P.A.L. over in Queens.
00:12:44Maybe it's common, but I had never heard of it before researching this.
00:12:48This guy not only was a model, but he was also in military school.
00:12:52I've never really heard of the two crossing over.
00:12:54When I was in New York in military school, we used to go train boxing at the P.A.L.
00:13:01And the boxing would give way to martial arts and competitive fighting.
00:13:06Boxing took me more than martial arts.
00:13:08Sasha was a black belt in Taekwondo and an amateur kickboxing champion.
00:13:13My father was like the first Caucasian Nam Bukai Grandmaster.
00:13:20And I think I was the fifth Caucasian that was brought in as Nam Bukai.
00:13:26And down at the Shinto Temple downtown L.A.,
00:13:30there's a Japanese-American culture exchange building
00:13:32where they would always practice Kenpo and Kendo, the samurai swords.
00:13:40I started working in TV and movies and stuff.
00:13:43I was out here and started training with Benny Aquinas.
00:13:46Sensei Ben was my teacher forever.
00:13:50And then he put me with Shuki, Shuki Ron.
00:13:52So he's like the gym-style Thai boxing from Holland.
00:13:56Those guys, you know, bigger, taller guys.
00:13:58Martial arts started.
00:14:00It was one thing led to another like that before acting at all.
00:14:04I was doing, I did some commercials.
00:14:11Look, I'll be seeing you around, okay?
00:14:15Look, I'll be seeing you around, okay?
00:14:18Is it love or is it memorex?
00:14:21Remember that? There was like a drug commercial I did.
00:14:24That was like, this is your brain, this is your brain on drugs.
00:14:26That won all these awards.
00:14:28My brother's friend, Rick, wanted to do something special for him for his birthday.
00:14:32He was like, you know, he was the best.
00:14:34He was like, you know, he was the best.
00:14:37He was like, you know, he was the best.
00:14:39He was like, you know, he was the best.
00:14:41wanted to do something special for him for his birthday.
00:14:45He bought him some crack.
00:14:47Maybe it was bad stuff.
00:14:48Maybe he just couldn't handle it.
00:14:50And then I did a public service announcement against crack,
00:14:54because that's when crack had just come out, in like 82, 83.
00:14:58And after that, I did like a movie of the week
00:15:01where I spoke only Spanish in it.
00:15:03It was ABC movie of the week, and it
00:15:06was Ricky Nelson's daughter, Tracy Nelson.
00:15:09She got sent down to South America
00:15:10and then supposedly met me, and I only spoke Spanish.
00:15:13It was like that kind of a thing.
00:15:22So it started out with other kind of TV and movies
00:15:25and things.
00:15:26And then the first feature I ever did
00:15:28was directed by Terry Leonard.
00:15:32You started out on your first big role as Dallas, correct?
00:15:41Like long term, yeah.
00:15:42That was like four years.
00:15:45I was even able to find articles from people in the industry who
00:15:48were all worked up over the fact that he gave off
00:15:51this kind of 1950s rebel vibe, which
00:15:54made him the perfect person to star in a movie
00:15:57like Spike of Bensonhurst.
00:15:59Guys, if you've never seen Spike of Bensonhurst,
00:16:02do yourself a favor, and whenever I actually
00:16:04make the review, watch it.
00:16:07Because it is like if Rocky was just a complete scumbag.
00:16:11I can't be exiled from Bensonhurst.
00:16:13Get out of here.
00:16:15That's my club.
00:16:16That's my turf.
00:16:18Man, that accent.
00:16:19Can't you just see him on an episode of The Sopranos?
00:16:22This guy's like the perfect Italian.
00:16:25Even if online it says that he comes
00:16:27from Russian and Jewish heritage.
00:16:30And wait a minute, did this website just
00:16:32say that he's into bonsai trees?
00:16:34You know, I was raised at the California Bonsai Society.
00:16:38And then eventually, actually, the Nampakai, the grandmasters.
00:16:41My father's trees are like, you know,
00:16:43at the National Arboretum in DC and Descanso Gardens.
00:16:46My father has trees named Masterpiece Trees
00:16:49at the Nippon Bonsai Society in Tokyo.
00:16:52OK, between the bonsai trees and the fighting,
00:16:56are we sure that Sacha Mitchell isn't just Danny LaRusso?
00:16:59I was born in LA and in Hollywood.
00:17:02So I wasn't like from some rural town,
00:17:04and then Hollywood struck me.
00:17:06You know, I was born and raised there.
00:17:08To me, it was like actually acting actors, models,
00:17:11that was like a bad thing in my house.
00:17:13My dad was in the garment industry.
00:17:15I didn't tell my dad for like a year that I was doing acting.
00:17:18And finally, I got a movie called Spike and Bensonhurst.
00:17:21And I got the lead over Ernest Morganite.
00:17:24Like, I was the star of the movie.
00:17:25And I had to tell him that I was acting.
00:17:28Sacha Mitchell, on the surface, just kind of
00:17:32comes across as a disciplined and driven guy.
00:17:36This was a guy who spent a lot of time learning
00:17:39different fighting techniques.
00:17:40And I started studying with Benny Akitas, Benny the Jet.
00:17:45And I was like around, see, I graduated in 85.
00:17:49So that was probably like 87, 88.
00:17:52Studied with him for a lot of years.
00:17:55And he had like a Aikido card, his style.
00:17:59Because his last name was Akitas.
00:18:00But it had a mix of a lot of different styles,
00:18:03like American hands, like for American boxing,
00:18:07not Thai hands.
00:18:08But he used elbows and knees and Taekwondo redirects,
00:18:12and round kicks, leg kicks from Thai boxers.
00:18:17So he has kind of a mixed fighting style.
00:18:20So I could see where that would make him violent in real life.
00:18:24But studies show that martial arts actually
00:18:27lowers aggression and overall anger.
00:18:29And trained people perform better under stress.
00:18:33If anything, having a sensei is actually a good thing.
00:18:37To some in the outside world,
00:18:39if you didn't watch Step by Step,
00:18:41you knew Sacha Mitchell as a C-grade action star.
00:18:44You'd hire Sacha Mitchell to take on the movie roles
00:18:48that Jean-Claude Van Damme said,
00:18:50yeah, I'm not doing any of those sequels.
00:18:52And so producers tend to give him a lot of leeway.
00:18:58They love him because he gets everything done always.
00:19:02And he makes things look like he has this artistic style.
00:19:06And it looks really good,
00:19:08but it's done really pretty rapidly.
00:19:11And he, I think, decided to use that
00:19:14in talking with Steve Friedman.
00:19:17He's like, Sacha's gonna do it, I'll do it.
00:19:19But I'm getting this kid from the dojo.
00:19:25And he's gonna do kickboxing too.
00:19:27And I don't think Steve really had a lot to do with it.
00:19:30I think it was all Albert.
00:19:33To do action movies and kickboxing movies
00:19:34was Albert's vision.
00:19:36He said, you can do it.
00:19:37I know you're gonna be great in this movie.
00:19:39And I started training with Benny.
00:19:43So maybe the lack of respect for his talent
00:19:46is what drove Sacha Mitchell to abuse his wife.
00:19:49Maybe he was more like his character
00:19:51in the class of 99 than we thought.
00:19:531999 too, didn't you?
00:19:56Yeah, that was amazing.
00:19:57That was really fun, man, that movie.
00:20:00Well, we got to blow things up,
00:20:01so it wasn't all just fighting.
00:20:03We were blowing cars up with like 25 gallons of gasoline.
00:20:06That was fun, man, that movie was a blast.
00:20:10Just the director was like a really big stunt man.
00:20:15Actually, the two of them.
00:20:17The stunt coordinator was his best friend.
00:20:19You know, between the two of them,
00:20:20I don't think it got much better
00:20:22unless you used Terry Leonard.
00:20:24I did a movie with Terry.
00:20:25The first movie I ever did was with Terry Leonard.
00:20:28But those stunt guys were unbelievable, man.
00:20:30So what am I investigating?
00:20:33The articles seem to make it all pretty cut and dry.
00:20:36Sacha Mitchell had been arrested on April 21st, 1995
00:20:41after the sheriff's department received a call
00:20:43from Sacha's mother-in-law,
00:20:45who said that Sacha was assaulting his 25-year-old wife
00:20:48and endangering their stepdaughter.
00:20:51Publications like the Los Angeles Times
00:20:53would report on the spousal assault.
00:20:55June 8th, 1995, sitcom star pleads not guilty
00:20:59in spousal assaults.
00:21:01Courts, Sacha Mitchell of Step by Step
00:21:03is charged with three new misdemeanor counts
00:21:05in alleged beating.
00:21:06Sacha's attorney would say
00:21:08that the police fabricated the case.
00:21:10According to the prosecutor,
00:21:12Jeannie Mitchell had been slapped and kicked
00:21:14while sitting with her daughter.
00:21:15She tried to hide in the bathroom,
00:21:17but Mitchell kicked a hole through it.
00:21:20Jeannie would not seek medical treatment for her bruises.
00:21:23She would also tell the deputies
00:21:25that Sacha had previously shattered her eardrum
00:21:28and given her a concussion.
00:21:30Oh, dude, this doesn't look good for you.
00:21:35Sacha's attorneys would argue that, actually,
00:21:38Sacha was a very loving husband
00:21:41and had been devoted for the last five years
00:21:43to not only Jeannie, but his stepdaughter.
00:21:46And since Sacha was a trained kickboxer,
00:21:49if he had actually kicked Jeannie,
00:21:51the damage could have been a lot more severe.
00:21:54They found it suspicious
00:21:56that Jeannie had continued living with Sacha
00:21:59post this arrest.
00:22:00Municipal judge Bruce A. Clark
00:22:02would deny Jeannie Mitchell her request
00:22:05to prevent Sacha Mitchell from contacting her
00:22:07or her daughter.
00:22:08Mitchell had no previous criminal convictions.
00:22:11All this turmoil would cause major headaches
00:22:14as they're trying to make season five of Step by Step.
00:22:17Yeah, dynamite.
00:22:18But yeah, there was some stuff.
00:22:19And I think there was some drugs
00:22:20and there was some, like, fighting with the wife.
00:22:23Yeah, I was gonna say,
00:22:24maybe a little bit of wife-beating.
00:22:25There might have been some wife-beating.
00:22:27You say it so casually.
00:22:29No, I'm just throwing it out.
00:22:30Patrick Duffy wouldn't stand for that shit.
00:22:31No, definitely not.
00:22:32No, it was, yeah, it was pretty bad.
00:22:35Sacha would have to split time between prison and the set.
00:22:39Until finally, as the Clickbait article told us,
00:22:42he was fired.
00:22:43Deep six, pink slip.
00:22:45I saw a vista, baby.
00:22:47The fat lady has son.
00:22:48Don't let the door hit you.
00:22:49Yeah, Cody.
00:22:50Cody's last appearance as a regular character
00:22:53would be in season five, episode 19, Do the Right Thing.
00:22:58Ironic, right?
00:22:59That title?
00:23:00Yeah.
00:23:01And losing Cody as a character was a major blow.
00:23:04They tried multiple times
00:23:06to get a new comedy character to break out,
00:23:09but it just didn't happen.
00:23:11They really wanted a new wacky character.
00:23:14So we had Flash.
00:23:16Good to meet you, Jake Gordon.
00:23:17People call me Flash.
00:23:19Thanks for giving me a chance, Frank.
00:23:20You're a wonderful guy, Frank.
00:23:21It is Frank, isn't it?
00:23:24Season six would see Rich getting a bigger role.
00:23:27We'd even get a new character, hairdresser John Luke,
00:23:31played by TGIF alum, Bronson Pinchot.
00:23:34September of 1995 in Ventura County, California,
00:23:37Sasha would be convicted of hitting his wife
00:23:40and be sentenced to three years probation and counseling.
00:23:44He'd spend January of 1996 in jail,
00:23:47but still be allowed to film step-by-step.
00:23:49May 3rd, 1996, a judge would sentence Sasha
00:23:53to spend 60 days at the Ventura County Jail
00:23:56for violating probation
00:23:57and continued violence against his wife.
00:24:00Since step-by-step wasn't filming,
00:24:02Sasha had to stay at the jail.
00:24:04That way we won't miss a second of TGIF.
00:24:07At this point, it all seems pretty cut and dry, right?
00:24:10Sasha is not coming across very well.
00:24:13In fact, he sounds like an asshole.
00:24:16But this is where it starts to get a little confusing.
00:24:20Spitting, name-calling, property destruction,
00:24:23striking his wife violently with a pillow.
00:24:26And this was the stuff he was admitting to in court.
00:24:28But still, the couple wasn't divorcing.
00:24:31They were gonna work this out.
00:24:33Sasha Mitchell would be arrested for a second time
00:24:36on July 22nd, 1996,
00:24:38for no-showing court-mandated sessions
00:24:41with a spousal abuse counselor and a probation officer.
00:24:45And now here is where I wish I had way more resources,
00:24:50because apparently this became a big national story,
00:24:55and yet I couldn't find that much about it.
00:24:58Of course it was gonna become a big story.
00:25:01This was gonna shine a light on the domestic abuse issue.
00:25:04But like, hey man, if you want people to believe in you,
00:25:07I gotta tell the truth on a regular basis.
00:25:11And this story would even end up on Oprah.
00:25:14And this is crazy to me,
00:25:15because I wanted to find these Oprah episodes.
00:25:18You know, for a woman who had almost 30 years of TV shows
00:25:22on a daily basis,
00:25:24there is very limited amount of Oprah available online.
00:25:29And I tried to do the research, right?
00:25:31So I'm going on all the different places
00:25:34to track this down,
00:25:36or even just trying to pin down a date.
00:25:38And when I say I wish I had resources,
00:25:40it's to be able to dig into Oprah's archives.
00:25:43The year these episodes happened?
00:25:46No clue.
00:25:47TV database has a mutated cataloging
00:25:51of some of the seasons of her show,
00:25:53but even then I can't trust any of this.
00:25:57Jenny Erickson recalled seeing Sasha Mitchell
00:26:00send in a video from a jail cell
00:26:03while his spouse was on Oprah's set
00:26:05of Sasha Mitchell admitting to abusing his wife
00:26:08and even kicking his wife
00:26:10while she was eight months pregnant.
00:26:11Another user said that there was a follow-up episode
00:26:15where Jeanette said Sasha wasn't completing therapy
00:26:18and was violating restraining orders.
00:26:21Though I'm a little skeptical on her credibility
00:26:23because she kept calling Sasha Jensen.
00:26:29But I saw some pretty convincing photos
00:26:31in line down at the supermarket.
00:26:33Yeah, Mark, I know it doesn't make any sense,
00:26:36but neither does Cody and he exists.
00:26:39All right, it all seems pretty cut and dry, right?
00:26:42Sasha is a huge abuser.
00:26:44He's been busted on national TV,
00:26:47kicked off his show, and thrown in jail.
00:26:50Yeah.
00:26:51Tell me how it's gonna end.
00:26:52What's happening with Cody?
00:26:54That's why he was let go from step-by-step.
00:26:56It was an abrupt firing.
00:26:58Fans weren't even gonna find out what happened to Cody
00:27:00until the last episode of season six.
00:27:03Though the last episode of season six
00:27:05was actually the first episode that they shot for season six.
00:27:10Well, that's that.
00:27:11I mean, I get it.
00:27:12He screwed up his life and was making horrible decisions.
00:27:15And wait a minute, back on the show again?
00:27:19Tootsies!
00:27:20The Codeman's back!
00:27:21Hey!
00:27:31But he's a terrible guy.
00:27:34So you spent two years of your life
00:27:36searching for the ultimate quarter pounder with cheese?
00:27:39Yeah, buddy.
00:27:41Oh, I guess M. Night wrote this story
00:27:43because there's a twist.
00:27:45When Jeanette Robbins and Sasha Mitchell divorced in 1997,
00:27:49Sasha, in court, would state that Jeanette was a drug user
00:27:53and he'd actually been trying to protect his kids
00:27:56from a physically abusive mother.
00:27:58I don't know.
00:27:58I kind of think there's something to that.
00:28:00From my research, Sasha was the one
00:28:02who got full custody of the four kids
00:28:04and the mother gets limited supervised visits
00:28:07five times a year.
00:28:08And if you're going by anecdotal evidence
00:28:11that you'll find online,
00:28:12I found a lot of pictures of Sasha Mitchell
00:28:14doing family things with his kids.
00:28:16So I gotta know what changed.
00:28:19So I go back to the forums.
00:28:21Some forum users would say that the ex-wife's vice
00:28:24was actually booze.
00:28:26And some said that she'd actually been cheating on Sasha,
00:28:29that the ex-wife had also been selling the story of abuse
00:28:33to make money from the tabloids.
00:28:35They would say that it was actually Sasha
00:28:37trying to keep his family together.
00:28:39And that's why he took the rap as being an abuser.
00:28:42I don't know.
00:28:43This is all wild speculation,
00:28:46which pre-internet would have just been out in the public.
00:28:49And now, I mean, nowadays this type of stuff happens
00:28:52on internet forums and social media.
00:28:55So do you believe these people
00:28:57or do you go by the cold hard rulings of a court?
00:29:01Which if you've been following the story
00:29:03had been ruling against Sasha.
00:29:06Or do you go by what you see online
00:29:08where he just seems to be a single parent
00:29:11who is raising his kids
00:29:12and just kind of comes off
00:29:13as one of these low-key kind of dads.
00:29:16I would tell somebody be half an hour early,
00:29:19don't be on time.
00:29:21Work as hard as you can and don't grumble about anything.
00:29:24Be in late, stay in late.
00:29:26So is the guy at anti-bullying seminars
00:29:30the same guy that I just read all that horrible stuff about?
00:29:33Hey, I'm Sasha Mitchell.
00:29:35When it comes to bullying, we're kicking it together.
00:29:37Whenever I make one of these deep dives,
00:29:39you'll know that I love to see
00:29:41where both sides are coming from.
00:29:43If Sasha was such a bad guy,
00:29:46well then, even if they worked with him,
00:29:48you probably won't hear positive stuff
00:29:50coming from step-by-step cast members.
00:29:53And yeah, they didn't say anything that negative.
00:29:58Where they often just choose to bring up
00:30:00just how good Sasha Mitchell's comedic timing was.
00:30:03Sasha, what a monumental talent.
00:30:08Unbelievable talent.
00:30:10Perfect timing, everything.
00:30:13There was one where I played Kitty Meow.
00:30:18And you guys remember Sasha Mitchell?
00:30:20He played Cody, the crazy cousin of Cody?
00:30:21Oh yeah, of course.
00:30:22Yeah, yeah.
00:30:23He was the detective.
00:30:26And that was the one where we got to wear
00:30:27like 1940s cop period costumes.
00:30:32And I came into his office and like,
00:30:34you couldn't trust me because you didn't know if I,
00:30:37like I was a lounge singer or something.
00:30:40So that was a super fun character
00:30:41to play like a Catherine Hepburn.
00:30:44And they realized they had a really good device,
00:30:48storytelling device, because they had this guy
00:30:50who's almost like a Jedi master.
00:30:53He's, you know, he's got this way with young people,
00:30:56but he was like cool and funny
00:30:58and seemed like a total like ditz,
00:31:01but actually was like the smartest guy in the room
00:31:03when it came to like matters of like,
00:31:05you know, the head and heart.
00:31:06Like he had a lot of really poignant things to say.
00:31:09So yeah, I think they realized like,
00:31:12oh man, we have like a great,
00:31:15like a perfect storytelling device for what this show is
00:31:18and what we're, even though these kids
00:31:20make some bad decisions or they get on each other's nerves,
00:31:22like here's the guy who can,
00:31:25who can kind of like, you know,
00:31:26like as you said, more competent
00:31:28and like kind of set them straight,
00:31:29but then also like rail on an electric guitar.
00:31:33At times I could feel some apprehension bringing him up,
00:31:37which, you know, that was kind of odd.
00:31:40Talented, well-behaved group of young actors on our show.
00:31:46Except for one of you and you know who you are.
00:31:48Yes. No, I'm kidding.
00:31:50Who had the coke habit?
00:31:51That's what I want to know.
00:31:52Jesus.
00:31:53That was well-documented.
00:31:54Read about Hollywood.
00:31:55That was well-documented.
00:31:58Did we touch on Cody?
00:32:00We have not.
00:32:01We've mentioned Cody in passing in joking senses,
00:32:03but never talked about Cody.
00:32:04No.
00:32:05There were some cocaine references made.
00:32:07That was Nick's surprise.
00:32:09Let me bring you up to speed.
00:32:10We don't actually know who made those references.
00:32:12We don't have any factual evidence behind that.
00:32:14Some people were more upfront
00:32:17with their feelings about the guy.
00:32:19But what a screw-up.
00:32:21And I tell him this to his face.
00:32:23We used to, he was so unreliable,
00:32:27but he was so talented
00:32:29that they put up with his behavior.
00:32:31But do you know that when Sasha was in the show,
00:32:34he wasn't in every show because he was too much of a trouble.
00:32:37We'd have to write two shows.
00:32:38Not me, the writers.
00:32:39We'd have to write two shows.
00:32:41One if he showed up and one if he didn't.
00:32:44So that meant as the cast,
00:32:46we had to memorize two different versions of the same show.
00:32:50I never got mad at Sasha.
00:32:52I always just felt badly that he had some disease,
00:32:58maybe, I don't know, where he just was going to blow it.
00:33:03He was given all this talent.
00:33:04And a lot of people are like that.
00:33:06They're given these great gifts from above
00:33:09and then squander it by not recognizing
00:33:15how great he was.
00:33:19It was a good amount of time
00:33:20that he just didn't show up for work.
00:33:21And there was definitely something going on.
00:33:24And you know, that's hard because you're a kid too.
00:33:27Nobody's really talking about it
00:33:28because it's also like,
00:33:30let's not talk about the drugs in front of the children.
00:33:32You know what I mean?
00:33:34But I was like 15 or 16.
00:33:36Like, I'm not stupid.
00:33:37I can read the paper.
00:33:38I can read the paper.
00:33:38So this is how little I know.
00:33:40So he actually had a drug problem.
00:33:42Yes.
00:33:42There was a 2013 interview
00:33:45with Kickboxer 3 director, Rick King,
00:33:47that also paints Sasha as a temperamental hothead.
00:33:51The guy was a nut job
00:33:53and Sasha would go around threatening him.
00:33:56I think he thought people thought he was stupid,
00:33:58which was true, King replied.
00:34:00And he was also violent.
00:34:02And he used his position of privilege
00:34:04as the star in a very negative way.
00:34:07Kickboxer 3 also came out in 1992,
00:34:11which is about two years into his marriage.
00:34:14I could see him being a hothead
00:34:17and this being our smoking gun.
00:34:18But then I also heard that the producer of these films
00:34:22would often try to sneak things into the film
00:34:26that weren't agreed upon when Sasha took the role.
00:34:30You told me you didn't really like Kickboxer 4.
00:34:34Well, it was fine.
00:34:35You know, I liked,
00:34:36because we had the Machado brothers there, right?
00:34:38So Egan and John were there.
00:34:40I loved them.
00:34:41Like, they're like unbelievable, those guys.
00:34:44And I liked the fights we did.
00:34:47We did it in like 10 days
00:34:49because I guess,
00:34:52I don't know if I should say all this,
00:34:53but Albert wanted to do a favor for Steve again
00:35:01and asked me if I would do it with him
00:35:02and if we would do it in 10 days.
00:35:04You know, and I was like, did you, you know,
00:35:07and Albert's like, let's just go do it.
00:35:09So we did.
00:35:11And I liked the fights.
00:35:12I liked the movie.
00:35:13I liked a lot of the stuff that we did.
00:35:14I didn't like some of the stuff that they did in post
00:35:17that had nothing to do with me.
00:35:19And I guess that's what I should have said
00:35:20that you didn't like some of the more adult things
00:35:22that they kind of snuck in there.
00:35:24Yeah, they snuck in stuff
00:35:26and dubbed it and made people think it was me
00:35:29having sex with that girl in the movie.
00:35:32And that's some weird fight with a pool net.
00:35:37Yeah.
00:35:38It was like, right?
00:35:39I just, I was like, what the, what is that?
00:35:42Yeah, I was looking for your wife.
00:35:44Yeah, so those two things kind of didn't really,
00:35:47that made me kind of sever my ties with Steve Friedman
00:35:53because that's what he does.
00:35:54You know, he's like one of those guys that would,
00:35:57he would time a movie, the fight sequences in Rocky,
00:36:02you know, that's why we had another huge fight
00:36:04in Simi Valley.
00:36:06At the end, we went to Simi and all my,
00:36:08like, you see all these house angels in there?
00:36:11And it's because Steve timed Rocky
00:36:14and decided that we needed, you know,
00:36:16another like three and a half minutes of fighting
00:36:19in the movie to be a success.
00:36:21So we did that.
00:36:22So was he defending himself?
00:36:25Besides, another director that Sasha worked with,
00:36:29Art Camacho, seems to be a lifelong friend.
00:36:33Yeah, Camacho's a wonderful guy.
00:36:35He's funny.
00:36:36He just texted me.
00:36:38He's nice.
00:36:38Yeah, we do that Dragon Fest together.
00:36:41You know, in California,
00:36:42they have that convention of martial arts people.
00:36:46Was it just that set?
00:36:47Maybe being around Patrick Duffy and Suzanne Somers
00:36:51was a calming thing.
00:36:53And being away from his uncle and aunt on set
00:36:58wasn't a good thing.
00:36:59That was fun.
00:37:00That was a really fun show.
00:37:02Suzanne Somers was so gorgeous.
00:37:06Yeah, she was a really nice lady.
00:37:08While making this video,
00:37:09I wanted to figure out how the Step by Step cast
00:37:12felt about them and about each other.
00:37:16Suzanne and I had, and not like daddy and mommy,
00:37:19but we felt responsible for the wellbeing
00:37:22of the young people on the show.
00:37:25And since this show isn't as documented as say,
00:37:28Family Matters, Boy Meets World, and Full House,
00:37:32I had limited resources to go to.
00:37:35But it seemed like Christine Lankin, Patrick Duffy,
00:37:40eventually Angela Watson, Suzanne Somers,
00:37:44kept in close contact with tabs
00:37:47on what everybody else was doing.
00:37:49So when it came to reboot talk, they all seemed game.
00:37:53And they always ask what were Suzanne and Patrick like?
00:37:56And I say, the show was amazing.
00:37:58I had a wonderful experience as a child
00:38:01and it was because of the two of them.
00:38:02It's true.
00:38:03It's so true.
00:38:04It trickles down from the top.
00:38:05Yeah, they set the tone.
00:38:06You and Suzanne set the tone.
00:38:06100%.
00:38:07And as, you know, throughout the years,
00:38:09I've done a lot of other stuff where that is not the case.
00:38:12And it's so interesting, especially as an adult,
00:38:14you walk on a set, man, you can smell it
00:38:16from the moment you walk on.
00:38:18The tension is so thick.
00:38:19That it is not a happy house.
00:38:21Suzanne is very much a very smart,
00:38:24like very smart business woman.
00:38:26And you can like, and also very like self-deprecating
00:38:30and also like very real, you know?
00:38:32And I think that's what always made her so appealing.
00:38:34She's just easy to get along with.
00:38:35And she was also insanely good looking.
00:38:38Yeah, and had a really good sense of humor about herself.
00:38:40And that was, it's very endearing.
00:38:42When you come on the set, that's your safe place.
00:38:44And you should be, you should feel free to do anything
00:38:48that you think is in support of the concept of the show.
00:38:52And then they can subtly tell you not to.
00:38:55But you don't yell at young actors.
00:38:56You don't berate them.
00:38:57You don't, you know, do your producer thing.
00:39:00And Suzanne and I were very adamant about, you know,
00:39:03the fun sense that a set should have,
00:39:06especially when you're doing comedy
00:39:07and especially with young people.
00:39:09You know, sometimes-
00:39:10He's so talented.
00:39:11He's a talented guy.
00:39:11Very, they all were.
00:39:13They all were.
00:39:13They had natural timing, really natural timing.
00:39:16I keep in touch with a couple of them.
00:39:19Some of them are like my children.
00:39:21I have two sons and I never had daughters.
00:39:24Interestingly enough, I get Father's Day cards
00:39:26from Christine Lakin and yeah, she was my little girl
00:39:31I used to carry around while she was holding a pig.
00:39:34And now she's got a baby
00:39:36and she's producing her own show on television.
00:39:40He's very dad-figured, yeah, for sure.
00:39:42I mean, he's invited to my wedding
00:39:43and then my mom made a joke.
00:39:44Oh my goodness.
00:39:45My mom made a joke on Twitter and she was like,
00:39:47does he want to pay for it too?
00:39:49And I wrote something on Twitter.
00:39:50I was like, he's like, I would love to walk you
00:39:52down the aisle, darling dear,
00:39:53but I will not be paying for your wedding.
00:39:56But I'll eat the cake, that's the most important thing.
00:39:58Yeah, he's great.
00:40:00Stacey Keenan is a lawyer now.
00:40:02Really?
00:40:02Yeah.
00:40:03Couldn't you see that coming?
00:40:04Yeah, yeah, I could see that, business sense.
00:40:06She had the look.
00:40:07Yeah, amazing.
00:40:08Stacey Keenan, I wrote introduction letters
00:40:11and she got into law school after our show
00:40:13and she's now working for the DA in Los Angeles.
00:40:18We just really were close friends.
00:40:21No, like everyone actually,
00:40:22I know it sounds really cliche,
00:40:23we actually all did kind of get along in a weird way.
00:40:26Like the girls definitely were, they were, you know,
00:40:28they kind of stuck together in the beginning
00:40:30and then I was in this weird place
00:40:31where I wasn't like a teenager yet
00:40:35and the girls were older.
00:40:36Sure.
00:40:36But then I was like hanging out with like the boys,
00:40:37like the younger boys.
00:40:38And there was like Brandon Call in the middle
00:40:39and he was just kind of like,
00:40:40I don't know whether I'm cool yet
00:40:41or whether I'm like still a kid yet.
00:40:43So he would like beat us up
00:40:44and I was one of like the little kids in that scenario.
00:40:47That sounds like fun.
00:40:48Yeah, it was kind of,
00:40:49because he was actually kind of like,
00:40:50we would mostly side with each other and beat them up.
00:40:52Oh, alliances.
00:40:54Yeah.
00:40:55A lot of people are always gonna remember you as Cody.
00:40:57Does that bother you at all?
00:40:59No, no, it's good to make people laugh, you know,
00:41:02like that's why people remember you, you know,
00:41:04if you can make people laugh, even for a minute,
00:41:08you know, like make them feel better,
00:41:11just for that minute or two,
00:41:12that's why they remember you.
00:41:14You know, of course they'll always remember that guy.
00:41:17Cause you know, like heartthrob people
00:41:19and things like that, you know, taste change.
00:41:21And they're like, well, I used to like,
00:41:23you know, a little chachi or something like that,
00:41:25you know, right?
00:41:26And then they're 20 years old and they're like,
00:41:28no, it's like, thanks.
00:41:30All of this did derail Sasha Mitchell's career.
00:41:32He never became a breakout star.
00:41:35He did continue to work, but the roles dried up fast.
00:41:39Instead of being one of the stars on a Friday night sitcom
00:41:43and a B-movie action star,
00:41:45he's just now one of many random guest cast members
00:41:49on an episode of Love Boat, The Next Wave on UPN.
00:41:55Seven days and seven nights on the love boat.
00:41:58So, I guess now we know why we never did it before, huh?
00:42:03The love boat thing was way over the top.
00:42:05Or in movies, alongside Ice-T, Twice.
00:42:11For its seventh and final season,
00:42:14Step by Step was moved from ABC's TGIF lineup
00:42:18to CBS as part of their newly launched block party,
00:42:23alongside Family Matters,
00:42:24who had the same fate happen to them.
00:42:27Welcome to the CBS Friday night block party.
00:42:29Four great shows, Family Matters, Migo,
00:42:33Gregory Hines, and Step by Step.
00:42:36What a party!
00:42:37Les was one of the last people whose real enthusiasm
00:42:41was the magic of making film.
00:42:43That's all he wanted to do, is just do,
00:42:46he was so excited about television and the process
00:42:49and the actual genetic makeup of the industry.
00:42:53He was not, he turned out to be quite a businessman,
00:42:55obviously, CBS has been number one forever.
00:42:58But that enthusiasm is why he picked up the show
00:43:01for the last season.
00:43:02He liked it, and he liked us.
00:43:05And I had done Dallas for CBS,
00:43:08and I had known Les all this time,
00:43:10and all the people at the Miller-Boyette company
00:43:15knew Les as well as any of the other network execs.
00:43:18And he just said, this show can still make money,
00:43:21we can still do this.
00:43:22And so he said, I'll pick it up for another year.
00:43:25And now the problem was, at the end of that year,
00:43:27we dropped the last, I think, three episodes of the season.
00:43:30Yeah, we talked about that.
00:43:30And that was the tragedy,
00:43:31that was supposed to be the wedding.
00:43:33Could the show have gone longer if Cody was back?
00:43:37Well, maybe that's what the cameo was all about.
00:43:40Maybe they were trying to spark some interest.
00:43:42And it's not like if you watched Step by Step,
00:43:46you were that shocked when somebody
00:43:48suddenly stopped appearing.
00:43:49There were Lambert and Foster kids
00:43:52that just stopped showing up.
00:43:54Josh's voice was starting to change.
00:43:56And when we moved over to, I think, to Warner Brothers,
00:44:02they let Josh go.
00:44:03That was so cruel.
00:44:05They didn't explain it,
00:44:06they didn't tell anybody where he went.
00:44:08It was sort of like they had this new child on the show.
00:44:11You know, the Carol and Frank had a kid of their own.
00:44:14And I think they were focused on trying to
00:44:18like sort of breathe new characters into the show.
00:44:22And it got to a point where they just didn't know
00:44:25how to write anymore for these other characters.
00:44:27So if Cody just comes back, are we that surprised?
00:44:33No, I wouldn't think so.
00:44:35But the season seven cameo on Step by Step
00:44:37didn't lead to a full return of the show.
00:44:40Step by Step was canceled by CBS at the end of the season.
00:44:43Yep, sorry you have to go so soon, Code.
00:44:45See you later.
00:44:46Ah!
00:44:47Hey, Panda Burner.
00:44:48If I didn't know any better,
00:44:49I'd think you were trying to get rid of me.
00:44:51Yeah, and it was kind of like,
00:44:54it kind of came by surprise because
00:44:57I think the last episode was going to be
00:45:01Stacey and Jason Marsden,
00:45:05the rich character getting married.
00:45:07At least I heard that's what the plan was.
00:45:09And then the network cut it short like a few episodes.
00:45:14So we never really had that final, you know, like goodbye.
00:45:20It was gonna be at the house
00:45:22and that was gonna kind of be this really sweet ending
00:45:24of the show.
00:45:25And I mean, we were planning this thing like a wedding.
00:45:28Like I had a vision board in my dressing room.
00:45:31So this was gonna be, yeah, this really nice kind of end.
00:45:33And we kind of all sort of had that feeling.
00:45:35So it was like, okay, cool.
00:45:36There's gonna be a wedding at the end.
00:45:37It's gonna be like-
00:45:38It was your maid of honor.
00:45:39Well, it was these two, of course.
00:45:41It was Lakin and Angela Watson.
00:45:43And we picked out their bridesmaids' dresses.
00:45:45They were in shades of champagne.
00:45:47And it was such a emotional glass of cold,
00:45:52cold water in the face.
00:45:53I just remember there was some party-
00:45:54This is actually gonna be our last episode.
00:45:56And we were all like, what?
00:45:59I don't remember that.
00:46:00Like this is the last one?
00:46:02Well, everybody was there.
00:46:03And I remember walking in and seeing Patrick Duffy
00:46:06drinking a glass of wine.
00:46:08And I had never seen him drink, ever, ever.
00:46:12He joked about how he liked his wine or whatever,
00:46:15but I never saw him drink.
00:46:16And when I saw that glass of wine in his hand,
00:46:19I was like, oh no.
00:46:20Something is wrong.
00:46:22And that's, I feel like, when I found out.
00:46:24I think Patrick told me at that party.
00:46:27I don't know.
00:46:28It wasn't like we had 20 more episodes to do.
00:46:30There was two or three more
00:46:32that were gonna be this wedding arc.
00:46:33Just give us an ending.
00:46:35Yeah.
00:46:36And for the fans.
00:46:37All this drama definitely derailed the codeman.
00:46:41This is what we would call these days, canceling somebody.
00:46:46He went from a guy who could potentially
00:46:48be a star of a movie to small bit roles.
00:46:53Maybe he pops up in ER.
00:46:56Hey, Dr. Carter.
00:46:59Patrick.
00:47:01I'll get you an iced coffee and a BLT right away.
00:47:03But I'm gonna read you some of the titles
00:47:05that he did after this movie.
00:47:07The Chemist.
00:47:08Art's done like a whole bunch of movies.
00:47:10Even that one that we mentioned, that was The Chemist.
00:47:12He had just started that.
00:47:14Right after we were talking about it,
00:47:15I guess he saw your piece and he called me up
00:47:17and threw me in that.
00:47:19Olivier was doing another movie, Executive Protection.
00:47:21Did you see the trailer for it in the beginning?
00:47:24And then he called me, go over, do that.
00:47:25And then the first AD that was on the movie,
00:47:27he was doing one.
00:47:29He called me to do that.
00:47:29So just being with Art and Tom Renner,
00:47:34we got three movies jumping off each other.
00:47:36Assassin X, Smoke-Filled Lungs.
00:47:39It hasn't been filmed,
00:47:40but supposedly he's part of the martial arts kid too.
00:47:44Hi, I'm Don the Dragon Racer.
00:47:45And I'm Cynthia Rothrock.
00:47:47And we're here to tell you about our new movie,
00:47:49The Martial Arts Kid 2, Payback.
00:47:52Don and his brother were telling me
00:47:54at the martial arts hall of fame
00:47:56that they were doing it, they wanted me in it.
00:48:01I would do anything with those guys.
00:48:02I love those guys.
00:48:04Sasha Mitchell is a martial artist
00:48:05and an actor with three dozen credits,
00:48:07including being the lead in Kickboxer 2, 3, and 4.
00:48:10We are very pleased to have added Sasha to the cast.
00:48:12Be sure and spot me on The Martial Arts Kid 2
00:48:15and on Father to Father.
00:48:18Two new movies I got coming out.
00:48:20Father and Father.
00:48:22Yeah, I mean, if people call me.
00:48:24Like, you know, it's usually people,
00:48:27well, like Art, you know, he had me do something last year.
00:48:32I think, yeah.
00:48:33And New Jersey, that Father and Father thing.
00:48:38Oh yeah, Father and Father.
00:48:39Well, it's gonna be a comedy.
00:48:41So I guess on the onset of Father and Father,
00:48:46a mob guy played by Chuck Zito,
00:48:48who I think has been shot a few times by me,
00:48:52and he goes running into a church
00:48:54to find these priests, Father and Father,
00:48:56and make a confession before he thinks he's gonna die.
00:49:01So is there any truth to another Kickboxer movie?
00:49:04I don't know.
00:49:05It depends on how it feels.
00:49:08We wrote another script called Algiers
00:49:11that we wanted to do in there.
00:49:13Oh, okay. Algiers.
00:49:14Is that the cyborg?
00:49:17No, that's another one.
00:49:20Oh, you did do it?
00:49:23Oh, okay.
00:49:37Hey, look, something high profile.
00:49:40Here he is with Selma Hayek for the movie Drunk Parents.
00:49:44Don't be bitching to me about your rich life,
00:49:46your spoiled brat daughter.
00:49:47You know, you're gonna be out of here in a minute,
00:49:49and she'll have her mommy back.
00:49:51But now, thanks to you,
00:49:52I'm stuck in here for God knows how long.
00:49:55Next week, I'm starting a comedy.
00:49:57Really?
00:49:58Yeah, they put me in this comedy.
00:49:59The guy that wrote it, Fred Wolfe,
00:50:01he did Black Sheep, Little Nicky.
00:50:05He wrote like 200 episodes of Saturday Night Live.
00:50:09Really good.
00:50:09It's Selma Hayek, Will Ferrell.
00:50:13Those guys, Alec Baldwin.
00:50:16But hey, he did get to star in some real prestige cinema,
00:50:19like Slammed, where he was the king of back bar wrestling.
00:50:24Yeah, we used to wrestle back bar when I was starting out.
00:50:27He was pretty good.
00:50:28He taught me a lot of my moves.
00:50:30He was about to make the jump to the arena
00:50:31when he ripped his knee up.
00:50:34Pretty routine move, actually.
00:50:36I guess it was just one of those freaky things, you know?
00:50:40I wonder why he never told us.
00:50:44Maybe because I'm the one that tore it.
00:50:47Well, a lot of kickboxing movies.
00:50:49A lot of fighting ones, or at least like soldiers.
00:50:51I think I did like a wrestling movie, one wrestling movie.
00:50:55It was Slammed.
00:50:56Oh, sure.
00:50:57Back bar wrestling and stuff.
00:50:58Yeah, I think I have a poster for that somewhere.
00:51:00Really?
00:51:00Yeah.
00:51:01Because it was right up here in Burbank.
00:51:02Exactly.
00:51:03Yeah.
00:51:03Sasha Mitchell is kind of just a low-key civilian now.
00:51:07You know, it just seems like this guy went off the radar.
00:51:11So if you wanted to talk to him, well,
00:51:15is Facebook going to work for you?
00:51:17Not really.
00:51:18He's not really there.
00:51:22Twitter?
00:51:22Not really active.
00:51:34Instagram?
00:51:35Not active either.
00:51:37And you were in what movie?
00:51:38We were kickboxing.
00:51:39Two, three, four.
00:51:41We was in Substitute.
00:51:44What is it?
00:51:44Paso a Paso?
00:51:46Or Skater Down?
00:51:48But on Instagram up there, let me look at it.
00:51:54I can show you.
00:51:54I follow you on Instagram.
00:51:56You're sporadic on there, but I do follow you on there.
00:51:59Oh, yeah.
00:51:59So I got that, and I got the, oh, it
00:52:05says The Real Sasha Mitchell.
00:52:06Yeah.
00:52:07Except me and my dog, but.
00:52:10You're not a big social media guy, are you?
00:52:13No, man, I work.
00:52:14I guess that's why it would be easy if somebody was to just
00:52:17fabricate an interview.
00:52:19Eight that have Sasha Mitchell, but the one that's the real one
00:52:23is, yeah, my son and I, I think, are the picture.
00:52:26And then there's, how about Gmail?
00:52:28Sasha727.
00:52:30He still acts, but he kind of just does the real jobs
00:52:33with consistent paychecks.
00:52:34He might make an independent film every so often,
00:52:38but he mostly works with his hands.
00:52:40And from what I saw, the dude is legitimately
00:52:42talented at welding.
00:52:44He'll post some of the work on his Instagram
00:52:46that shows off some of the stuff he does on the job site
00:52:49and projects that he's working on.
00:52:51Really good stuff.
00:52:52These repurposed chairs, that's something
00:52:55you'd see on American Pickers.
00:52:56And welding is a family trade.
00:52:59I spent 12 years building a condo complex as welding.
00:53:04And then I got 10 years building email servers
00:53:08all over the world for this t-shirt company.
00:53:11They made like Guess, Hanukkah, Pings, Zara,
00:53:15you know, like Gary, all that stuff.
00:53:17And then, I don't know, I just kind of ran my life
00:53:23and raised my kids.
00:53:24And I didn't really go looking for movies.
00:53:27Are you going to go back and film?
00:53:29You know, I like it.
00:53:31I actually like doing it.
00:53:32I love doing it.
00:53:35I just, you know, I never really stopped
00:53:38to go look for a job again.
00:53:40You know, like, I mean, I did, but it was always work.
00:53:43So that's why I did so many different jobs over the years,
00:53:45like build email servers and networks and wireless networks
00:53:49and websites.
00:53:50Or if a contractor calls me up, I'm welding
00:53:53and I'm doing construction sites for, you know, six months.
00:53:56And it's just, or even like I was cooking for a long time
00:54:00at Farmer's Market restaurant.
00:54:02I'm just a welder, man.
00:54:03I'm a sweetheart.
00:54:03You know, like, it's funny.
00:54:05I look scary, but I'm just drawn that way.
00:54:07You know, I'm not really.
00:54:09I always look on these crazy deadlines.
00:54:11And I kept dreaming that I had like 250 pieces of chandelier
00:54:14on the floor that I had to weld up.
00:54:17And I'm like, wait a minute.
00:54:19There's no chandelier.
00:54:20There's no project right now.
00:54:23Wake up.
00:54:24And I made myself wake up.
00:54:25I go right back into that dream.
00:54:26And I kept waking up and going to sleep
00:54:28and waking up and going, that's not true.
00:54:30You're all right.
00:54:32I've done that.
00:54:33I thought I was working.
00:54:34I had to do it.
00:54:34I didn't.
00:54:35So when he left Hollywood, he focused his time
00:54:39on going to work and raising his four children.
00:54:44You know, people call me once in a while and say,
00:54:46hey, would you do a movie?
00:54:46But I worked for a living.
00:54:49I had time when I was a kid looking for movies
00:54:53and playing with TV people, you know,
00:54:56and then working my jobs at night.
00:54:58But then, you know, as I got older, I had kids.
00:55:01I raised four kids on my own.
00:55:03So I didn't really have time to look for jobs.
00:55:05I had four jobs, you know.
00:55:08And so I didn't really focus much on movies.
00:55:13I was just doing whatever, you know, anymore.
00:55:17I take it your kids are all grown now.
00:55:20Yeah, my youngest is 25, just turned 25.
00:55:24And they're 25, 28, 30, and 32.
00:55:29Oh, and mine's only 11.
00:55:31So I've got a lot of time left.
00:55:33Yeah, but it'll go by like in 10 minutes.
00:55:35It goes by too quick.
00:55:37Way too quick.
00:55:38Acting's great.
00:55:39And you know, if you can make people laugh
00:55:41or you can teach somebody a story, you know,
00:55:42I love doing that.
00:55:43I really do, you know.
00:55:44And I wish I could do it.
00:55:46I just, you know what it was?
00:55:47I think for so many years raising my kids,
00:55:50I just didn't really stop and ask for work.
00:55:54I cook.
00:55:54I raise four kids alone.
00:55:56I do, I paint nails, do the hair, detangling spray,
00:55:59the whole thing.
00:56:00You know, I had a lady that I hired
00:56:03that was, she was my housekeeper lady.
00:56:04And I got her a van and she would drive
00:56:06and pick my kids up from school.
00:56:08I dropped them off in the morning and went to work.
00:56:10And then she would pick them up and drive them to the studio.
00:56:12And then I would drive them home and cook dinner.
00:56:14And I guess they all are martial arts kids.
00:56:18Yeah, since they were babies, you know,
00:56:20we'd warm up, stretch, kick, punch.
00:56:23Yeah, they trained at the JET Center
00:56:24with Majid and Sensei Ben and everyone.
00:56:26Sasha Mitchell is still in legitimately good shape.
00:56:30It takes me four days to get through my whole body.
00:56:33Okay.
00:56:34So I'll do like, you know, like legs
00:56:35and the next day that you can do anything,
00:56:37but next day, chest and tris and back
00:56:40and maybe bicep and shoulders alone and then legs again.
00:56:44Hey, I was talking to Sasha off camera.
00:56:46He's looking good.
00:56:47Look at this, this guy.
00:56:48You're a stud.
00:56:49Screech, the Hanson Brothers, Cody from Step by Step.
00:56:55You know, I still,
00:56:57I mean, I love my veggies and my greens,
00:56:59but that's also positive.
00:57:01And sushi and I cook like crazy sauces
00:57:05and all this stuff for the kids,
00:57:06but I still, I eat meat and I eat dairy.
00:57:09You know, when you want to teach your body
00:57:11to burn the fat that's just sitting there,
00:57:13you got to go in carb depletion.
00:57:14You know, and like the first three days,
00:57:16I think you're just using up the glycogen
00:57:17that's in your muscles.
00:57:18Okay.
00:57:19After that, you're actually burning fat stores.
00:57:21His voice is deeper, but when he started laughing,
00:57:24I was like, yeah, that's Cody.
00:57:26That's Cody.
00:57:27Yeah.
00:57:28See, did you see?
00:57:29Let's hope this sticks.
00:57:30Yeah.
00:57:31Oh, dude.
00:57:31Oh, yeah, I got a bunch of stuff here.
00:57:33Traveling today?
00:57:34Yeah.
00:57:35Me too.
00:57:35Yeah, yeah.
00:57:36If you want to see him,
00:57:37he might pop up at a martial art event.
00:57:39Well, like, you know, if I go anywhere
00:57:42and take off enough work to do anything,
00:57:44it's going to be probably the martial arts hall of fame.
00:57:47You know, with all those guys,
00:57:50with those guys, Kerry Tagawa.
00:57:52He's always there.
00:57:53I love him.
00:57:55You know, it'll be my sensei,
00:57:57and just everybody's always, you know, at that,
00:58:00and I love it.
00:58:01You know, Chuck Zito.
00:58:02He's like one of my favorite guys in the world.
00:58:04Geez.
00:58:05And, yeah, Don's always there with James
00:58:09and, you know, the Wilson brothers.
00:58:11And then, I mean, everybody's always there.
00:58:13So it's just, you know,
00:58:14it feels so good to be there with them,
00:58:16and it's January in New Jersey, so nobody else.
00:58:20It gives them discipline.
00:58:22A lot of times, you know, these kids,
00:58:24they come into the martial arts studios,
00:58:27and they don't know how to focus.
00:58:28They don't know how to listen.
00:58:30And a lot of the first year, even getting yellow belt,
00:58:33most of the time, really what you're teaching these kids
00:58:36is how to focus on listening.
00:58:38If they think, like, the biggest thing in the world
00:58:39is this bully that's picking on them at school,
00:58:42or the biggest thing in the world is, like, you know,
00:58:45the algebra test they're about to face.
00:58:47But if they realize, you know, no,
00:58:49there's a creator, there's my sensei,
00:58:51there's my family, my parents, there's myself.
00:58:54This world is a big place.
00:58:56Absolutely.
00:58:57Solutions to problems, lots of them.
00:58:59I've got friends out there I can speak with.
00:59:01I can talk to my dad anytime.
00:59:04I can talk to my sensei if there's something touchy
00:59:07I may not want to say to my dad, you know,
00:59:09or whatever it is, you know.
00:59:11And there's always just different levels of family,
00:59:13because like they say, you know,
00:59:15it takes a nation to raise a kid.
00:59:17It's got to have a big group,
00:59:18got to have a bunch of people.
00:59:20And I think a belief in the creator
00:59:22of whatever creator you believe in.
00:59:24And despite having a rather notorious exit
00:59:27from Step by Step, he seems like he's still a big fan
00:59:30of the show that he worked on.
00:59:32Oh, it was a blast.
00:59:33So we would just, you know, blow things up
00:59:36and have a blast.
00:59:37It's like, ride your motorcycle through the kitchen
00:59:39and blah, blah, blah.
00:59:41He was really great, man.
00:59:42So Step by Step was a blast.
00:59:44It was really fun.
00:59:46And it's like, it was a live audience, you know,
00:59:49so it was really good.
00:59:51Something tells me that if they rebooted the show,
00:59:54he'd come back.
00:59:56Do you still talk to any of the people from the show?
00:59:58Patrick and I will email here and there.
01:00:01And that was kind of something
01:00:02that when everybody was rebooting
01:00:04their 90s and 80s TV shows, it was joked about.
01:00:07Full House comes back, Boy Meets World comes back.
01:00:10Why not see if Step by Step could come back?
01:00:12Some of the cast members were game.
01:00:14They could certainly come up with a reason
01:00:16to make this show happen.
01:00:18Let's get a reunion finale special
01:00:20and end it off the right way.
01:00:21Let's start pitching that to Hulu or something.
01:00:23Yeah.
01:00:25It's been talked about, but never really in a real way
01:00:28where people have approached how it would happen.
01:00:32I know that in my own discussions with Patrick Duffy,
01:00:37that he was like, the last time I spoke to him about it,
01:00:40he was like, yeah, if it's the right script
01:00:42and the right thing, I would be totally down.
01:00:44Even Stacey, who is gone,
01:00:46she has a completely different career now.
01:00:48She was like, I think we could make it work.
01:00:51I think we should get it going.
01:00:52Patrick says he's in.
01:00:54Stacey says she'll come out of,
01:00:55she'll stop lawyering for a few days a week.
01:00:58Yeah, why not?
01:00:59She's like, I think we could work it out.
01:01:01Great.
01:01:02It's a movie, you know?
01:01:04Right?
01:01:05The why has to do with the very kernel of doing a sitcom,
01:01:10especially resurrecting a sitcom.
01:01:12Because the whys generally are,
01:01:14but there's a ready-made audience
01:01:16and it'll be successful.
01:01:17That's not the why.
01:01:18No.
01:01:19The why has to be inherent in the writing
01:01:21and the premise of the show.
01:01:23And I can't think of a why,
01:01:25and I'm pretty good at thinking whys.
01:01:26Well, could The Brinks Truck be a why?
01:01:29Step-by-step reboot.
01:01:32I really like that.
01:01:33Really?
01:01:34Yeah.
01:01:35I think we should get a reboot going.
01:01:38They should be doing our show, just step-by-step.
01:01:41What about if we did something like a reboot?
01:01:45Of the show?
01:01:46Of step-by-step?
01:01:47Yeah.
01:01:47I think about it all the time.
01:01:51I just feel so comfortable around family.
01:01:55No, you really should put some clothes on.
01:01:57If there was a step-by-step reboot,
01:02:00Oh, God.
01:02:01Would you do it?
01:02:02Yeah.
01:02:04Yeah, I think so.
01:02:05But see, Lakeskins here thinks it will never happen.
01:02:07I see, I disagree.
01:02:09I kind of do too.
01:02:10I guess I don't understand why not.
01:02:12I don't know.
01:02:13Could we just not get everyone, you think?
01:02:16The only thing that came across as kind of odd
01:02:18is that they said that they had no drama
01:02:20until the very end, and then left.
01:02:24Now, was that about Sacha Mitchell?
01:02:26Or was that when Brandon Call
01:02:29almost got killed by a gang member
01:02:32because they thought he was part of a rival gang?
01:02:35And that's what drove Brandon Call
01:02:37away from the acting world.
01:02:39I mean, there's really nothing we didn't have.
01:02:42It was drama-free.
01:02:43It was.
01:02:44It was very, until the very end.
01:02:48Yeah, they're okay.
01:02:49Everyone left us.
01:02:50And if it came back,
01:02:51what would a 50-year-old Codeman be doing?
01:02:54Does he have a family?
01:02:55What are mini-Codies like?
01:02:57What is a female Cody like?
01:02:59She's like the kids now blending their own families together
01:03:03or in some way, you know.
01:03:05You know, the kids are back and they have their own kids.
01:03:08And, you know, and maybe somehow it's,
01:03:10maybe it's one of these situations
01:03:12where it's a multi-generations
01:03:13living in the same house together.
01:03:15That's what I've, you know.
01:03:16Well, you know, I always have felt like JT would,
01:03:18JT would still be in a basement.
01:03:21It's like if Cody was in a band,
01:03:22JT would still be in someone's basement.
01:03:23Right, he works at a video,
01:03:24the last video store on Earth.
01:03:25The last video store on Earth.
01:03:26He maybe owns and runs that.
01:03:27We're missing something.
01:03:29Where's the Codeman in all this?
01:03:31Oh, the Codeman.
01:03:32Yes, how could I forget the Codeman?
01:03:34The Codeman, he's gotta be the comic relief of the show.
01:03:38The Codeman is, you know,
01:03:42he's still driving around in a van,
01:03:44but he's secretly a millionaire.
01:03:46He's the only one who's actually done well for himself.
01:03:49He has like, like he created like a, like a flovie.
01:03:53You know what I mean?
01:03:54He created like one of those things that's like so dumb,
01:03:56but makes so much money and yeah.
01:04:00And everybody is basically trying
01:04:02to butter him up all the time.
01:04:05And I think Al actually has a pretty good relationship
01:04:07with him, too proud to ask him for money.
01:04:09But they were living in that house
01:04:10and they were, there was like a new generation of stuff.
01:04:13And I think this way would have to be,
01:04:15you'd have to focus on a character
01:04:16who maybe had gotten a divorce, has a couple of kids,
01:04:20is marrying somebody, like they're combining their families,
01:04:22but like the old family is still in rotation, you know?
01:04:26Right.
01:04:27So maybe Lily is a newlywed or something.
01:04:29Right.
01:04:30She's quite busy.
01:04:31I think people would want the same tone, right?
01:04:33They would want that kind
01:04:34of really family-friendly whole something,
01:04:36or you can definitely watch it with your kids.
01:04:39It's not going to be too edgy or racy.
01:04:41It's going to be a kind of a feel good thing.
01:04:43I think the tone would probably have to be the same.
01:04:45Yeah, you can't make it like step by step
01:04:46and now it's breaking bad.
01:04:48Right.
01:04:49Well, no, but at the same time, like for instance,
01:04:50like-
01:04:51Al's got a neck lab.
01:04:53Like a garage.
01:04:54From 2010 to 2015,
01:04:56Sasha Mitchell was married again to a woman named Rachel,
01:05:00but that ended in irreconcilable differences.
01:05:03Also, I found it kind of odd
01:05:06that since Oprah stuck her nose
01:05:08in Sasha Mitchell's business,
01:05:11many years later, he'd hold no grudge.
01:05:16He'd even do commissioned work for her.
01:05:18What is this?
01:05:19That's an event for all 90s stars.
01:05:21Look what we have here.
01:05:2490s Con is going to have a step-by-step reunion.
01:05:29There's Patrick Duffy.
01:05:31There's Stacey Keenan.
01:05:32Christine Lincoln.
01:05:34Wow.
01:05:34Even Brandon Call's going to be there.
01:05:37Christopher Castle.
01:05:39And is that Sasha Mitchell?
01:05:43Yup.
01:05:44And he's going to be part of the panel.
01:05:46I guess there really was still room for the code man
01:05:49in the step-by-step family.
01:05:52You know, when things happen in your life
01:05:53and they hit you hard,
01:05:55like if you live your life positively
01:05:57and you get up, go to work and be happy,
01:05:59wake up your kids and get them to school
01:06:01and it's exciting every day,
01:06:03you're under the governance of man.
01:06:05You're happy and you're doing it.
01:06:06You can live three, four lifetimes in one life,
01:06:09you know, and do your corrections
01:06:10and bless everybody that you know
01:06:12and help everybody that you see.
01:06:14That's the way to live, positively.
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