Like It Or Not: October 28, 2026

Whether I like it or not. Well, Emmy Award winner, bowling alley expert. What can't the guy do? My dad, the big Jim, is more the bowling alley expert. Nepo kid. I'm a bowling nepo baby. Hey, using ChatGPT, or any AI as a friend or a therapist, what do you think? I mean, it's cheaper. Will it get you help? I don't know. We don't recommend it, but go to fox5bc.com slash line. Cast your vote. That is our Instapoll tonight. This is Like It or Not. Let's go. John, this may be, I mean, aside from the time you wore the suit, this is a good look. No holes in the knees. I saw the complaints. But I like seeing the knees. So do I. I'm a working boy, but I was advised not to do it. You know, we got a complaint the last time he was on. I got an email from a viewer who said, people should not wear torn jeans on news programs. This is far from a news program. Would you agree? You've been on a couple times, Vanessa. I mean, this is a handsome man. I think people want to see him in shredded jorts. Yeah, I'm not a journalist. So, yeah, full-on Canadian. Absolutely. There we go. Welcome to the show tonight. Our pal Vanessa Santos is back here in the house with us. As mentioned, John from the John cast. Hey. Intern John. I mean, I just call you John. It'd be weird if I called you Intern John. It would be weird. We'd know each other. I mean, call worse. And TV's Kenneth Moten is here. Intern Kenneth. Intern. Yeah. By the way, we could do a whole story about your internships, right? Oh, we could. We're not going to talk about it. No, no. We probably shouldn't. Not in this context. No, we shouldn't. Were you a skin turn? Oh, wow. This is my first time meeting you, and I like you. Uh, we got so much to get to tonight, so let's fire it up. All right, so if you think today's young adults have massive social circles, think again. A new survey from StudyFinds finds 1,000 Gen Zers revealing the average young adult has just three close friends. Even more striking, 69% report feeling more lonely than expected as an adult, saying that loneliness kicks in about four days a week. And when asked why, the respondents say money or lack thereof, exhaustion after work or school, and scheduling. So Vanessa, let's start with you. Gen Z, finding adults in a very lonely place to be, like it or not. I mean, I hate it. I think it's really sad. But I think that Gen Z has grown up around this, like, overly obsessive boundary culture. And I think that's going to make you very closed off to experiences and fun social outings. And I think that because I was part of that generation that we had AOL. And I actually made some of my lifelong friends based on, like, AOL. In real life, friends, but that's the thing. That was the on-ramp to our friendship. Meeting online, then we met in real life, and now it's sort of like a lot of people don't take it offline at all, and you live your life in this cyber bubble. Listen, my parents are both retired, so they call me all the time. So I never feel lonely. It's never like breaking news. It's always like our old neighbor got a new cat, and it's like I don't need to know that stuff. But, like, anytime I feel lonely, John and Peggy call me. I'm like, oh, here it comes. I got a theory. Too many healthy families. Okay, hear me out. Please explain. We need a plague. Hear me out here. I'm just saying, like, so these kids, I think they were just like, they've had two-parent households, families that are always around each other. They're staying on their parents' insurance longer. In other words, they're just around their family much longer. Me, I was by myself watching Oprah at 4 o'clock after school. I was watching Maury. See, we know how to be by ourselves. That's right. If you grew up in the 80s and 90s or whatever, and these kids today, they were like, oh our parents are always around our families we got siblings and now we're on our own and adulting is hard and so if you're not able to get out there get off the tablets and other things like that and make some friends then that's the case you're going to find yourself in Oprah was your best friend, Oprah was definitely my best friend, yeah I mean I think we need to give some love to Sally, Jesse, Raphael too because you know she she may have been serious but she had a heart she did she had yes so let's bring her I think what you're asking me is to pick up this chair and throw it at you. No, it's a chair for spring. Wait, that was Geraldo? Was that Geraldo? No, no, that was for spring. I think it happened on Springer and a Absolutely. It also happened on the housewives. Hey. All right, here's a term you may not have heard before. Could you be in a sports gap relationship? That can mean one partner spends hours watching sports and plans every weekend around their favorite team. A HuffPost report looks at how that lifestyle can leave couples with less time together and one person feeling that they always come second. especially if the sports lover follows different sports year-round. Compromise can help, but relationship equity, supporting each other's interests, has to go both ways. I thought we were going to go to you on this one. No, we're going to go to John. A relationship planned around sports, like it or not. I'm in a weird spot as a Minnesota kid. We're undefeated, and so I'm enjoying the ride while I can, and not in that way. We're 6-0, so from now we're good, but they're going to lose eventually, and then lean on my girlfriend for support there. But for now, I'm missing things to watch sports. Between this and the fact you're a hockey coach, too. Yes. Like, there's a lot going on. That's all season long. So if you're a coach, it's like you're basically part of the team. So she's getting the full-on thing, luckily, so far so good. Yeah, yeah. How about you, Michigan girl? I mean, I'm lucky because I love sports. And my husband is, you know, I mean, look, I've always played soccer. I never really followed, like, major, you know, soccer seasons. I never really watched the World Cup. But I'm married to a Portuguese man. And so I turned into, like, the biggest Cristiano Ronaldo fan ever. And I love it. I love seeing my husband love something so much. So it's been a fun journey. But if you're not a sports chick, I can see how that would get old. But you also have to have an open mind for that, too, right? Well, falling in love with Ronaldo was easy. You guys followed him. You followed him around this year, right? Yeah, we went to Dallas, and it was incredible. And we also went to Russia. What? And you made it back out of there? Yeah, during the World Cup. I think it was 2018. Oh, OK. This was before they were taking basketball players. Yeah. Yeah. Pre-that. It's still felt a little crazy going. Yeah. But I we got to see Ronaldo really perform, it was awesome. OK, so you guys know I'm a big sports guy. Huge, huge. Yeah. While I'm not the biggest sports person, I have made it my mission this season to watch more college football and NFL. And so I've been doing a lot, you know, over the weekends here. But last weekend, I will say, I was watching somebody's game. And I was watching the Gamecocks, who beat Tennessee. Yay, go Gamecocks. Go Cocks. And so I was watching it, and we were doing things, but I was on my phone the entire time. And my significant other was like, OK, after this, you're done. You're done. And so I get it. I understand. But I don't know. It's only for a season. That's it. Well, unless you're a fan of every sport, then that could be a problem. And betting on them. That would be the problem. That could be the bigger problem, yeah. And then sports betting ads are getting really enticing. They're very funny. The Kalshi ads. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. The American Psychological Association says stressed-out Americans are pulling back from actual social activities and spilling their secrets to AI instead. The research found nearly half of AI users say they've chatted with a bot or program like a friend and even discussed personal relationships. Nearly the same number says they've used AI in a role similar to a mental health professional. Researchers say the findings show a growing reliance on AI, but the jury is still out on if those conversations are actually helping. So, Kenneth, relying on AI or friendship and therapy, like it or not? Talk about keystrokes. I like it. No, okay, this whole AI thing. I swear, we're so close, guys, to AI pornography, unless we already have it. What I'm saying is... John Dewey? John Dewey? Let me check your box. What I'm saying is we have technology. When the Internet started and somebody, who was that person who was like, oh, let's watch porn. You know what I mean? I'm just saying we're so close to just ruining the whole thing. And also, every time we talk about an AI story and people using it a lot, I still wonder how much water is being used again. Because we actually did a report here on Fox 5 about it depends on the size and of the data center and everything else like that. I still haven't gotten the answer to the question of how much water is being used. But at this point, now that AI is being used for everything, we won't have any water by 2030. Well, okay. They might be overstating it a little bit. But we're not a news program, so it's okay. That's right. That's right. We show knees on this show. Well, I agree with you. You can see Vanessa's. John let us down tonight. I don't use AI, though, but, like, Uber Eats' AI will bully me. It will be like, John, it's been, like, 10 minutes. Do you want ice cream? Like, it will, like, midnight be like, hey, your recent patterns, you're probably hungry. And that's as far as I go with AI. That's the most my phone blows up is Uber Eats. You give in, don't you? Sometimes. He sends photos. I'm like, here's a little discount. I'm like, okay. Yeah. I feel a little naughty. He got me. Yeah, I mean, I think that the reliance on AI is extremely disturbing, and especially in place of personal relationships. I mean, the first topic was about people feeling lonely. Of course you're lonely if you're friends with your phone. And I always think of the movie Her with Joaquin Phoenix. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, you said, you know, how close are we to, you know, the pornography thing, But I think I've seen stories where people are already trying to marry their A.I. devices or something. They're married. Right. Yeah. But I remember this was a big thing. And I go back to the early days of AOL where, you know, it became it was a scandal when you knew somebody who like left their significant other for somebody they met online. I mean, now that seems like that's just that happens all the time. I shouldn't say all the time, but it happens much more often. Yeah. Yeah. ASL. Oh, my God. Don't forget. Yeah. These kids don't know. No, no. Age, sex, location. Oh, yes. By the way, I do say please and thank you sometimes to my chat GPT. Just in case. Just in case. I abuse mine. Like, are you serious with that? I call it names. Be serious. They're like, you're right. I can do better. And I'm like, you're right. That's the worst part about asking it for advice because it's always that confirmation bias. It's always going to like be on your side. Yeah. So I need some hard truths. I need somebody on my side. That's right. Fox 5. That's our other. We're on your side. Oh, no. We got your back. Using AI as a friend or therapist. 25% of you like it. 75% of you don't. Go vote at fox5dc.com slash line and come back on this special edition of Fox 5's Like it or Not It's always special. Yeah. We're going to help you stay ahead. Stay ahead. Stay ahead. Coverage you can count on. Welcome back, it's another AI story. Great. uh are we calling it AI? Wait no, the White House is waiting to call it AI now, oh yeah, but I think of it anyway, as artificial intelligence becomes a bigger part of everyday life many shoppers remain skeptical when it shows up in advertising. New survey from Toluna research of 2,000 U.S. adults say 43% believe they felt duped by an AI generated ad. More than half say they don't trust products marketed with AI to match the product descriptions. Researchers also found consumers correctly identified real products only half the time, AI-generated products only 42% of the time, but AI is not all bad for shoppers. 53% say it's helped them find better prices, product reviews, and alternatives. So, Vanessa, using AI to guide your shopping experience, do we like it or not? I mean, I have actually never done that, which is shocking because my husband is constantly yelling at me about how much money I spend, but I've never used it. Women be shopping. Yeah, right. Ladies be shopping. No, I, but I've never actually used AI to help, but I mean, I have seen, I have ordered things and it's been very clear that what they were using to sell the product was AI, just like a total fake, especially like women's clothes. And I don't really do the cheap sites or anything, but I see some of those like Temu reviews and stuff like that. And it's like, that does not match at all. So interesting. But I don't like it, I guess. I used AI when I was buying a car, and what I did was I uploaded, like, my lease documents, my current car, and, like, I would just dump all the documents I would get from the dealership into AI and say, hey, make this make sense for me. It helped. It helped quite a bit. And then to that end, when we were talking about having these conversations with an AI chatbot, I would come to work some days, and I would just be talking, driving, all right, so I'm just, it's just verbal diarrhea to the AI chatbot and making sense of it. So it did help me in that regard. But I think you also have to trust but verify. Yeah, I was going to say trust but verify. You did say it first. You got me. I love a Reagan quote. I love a Reagan quote. But I will pick that up and say that you do have to do that because obviously it can dupe you and whatever like that. But that is a smart way to use it. But I just feel like people are just going to get scammed. I mean, like, you know, going to those fast fashion sites, whatever like that. They're literally they can just take a person, change the color of the person and the color of the item or whatever. Which they have done. Yeah, and you're not even sure you're getting or whatever like that. But I did use it. I got a lot of baby clothes, and so I put some of them up on an app recently to sell because, you know, I want the coins if I can, and not just give it away. But thanks for the gifts, by the way. Okay, anyway. It must be nice to have a kid who doesn't trash their clothes so you can't resell them. Oh, right, exactly. But I will say the AI just literally uploaded the item and gave me a description of it, And I just hit post, and that was it. I mean, AI is everywhere. Fun fact, Kenneth and I are both black. But because of AI, they try to get diversity on this show. So they make me a Midwestern kid. I don't know how we pull up. I was worried about that joke not landing. No, it landed. It made comments. I'm like, I always give Kenneth a look like, is that it? Are we cool? Are we cool? All right. If you work in an office setting or anywhere you share a refrigerator with co-workers, it's probably happened to you. You have been the victim of a work food thief. You know who I'm talking about, that colleague like this guy who has no regard for names on things in the fridge, and then when you get peckish, your lunch is gone. One former chef took petty revenge to a whole new level after a co-worker repeatedly swiped his gourmet sandwiches. The chef spiked a mayo-based sandwich with incredibly hot Trinidad scorpion pepper powder. The thief took the bait, resulting in a quick trip to the bathroom and a swift end of the lunch thievery. Kenneth, getting petty to protect your lunch, like it or not. I love petty all day, every day, because who, I hear these stories, I'm like, who is the inconsiderate, horrible, just nasty, no-home training person that would take someone else's lunch? If it's not yours, then why? I can understand a little confusion. It's like, wait, I thought that was my wrap sandwich or whatever like that. But no, no, you know what you're doing, and you deserve every single last horribleness that you get. I guarantee in your time in radio, you've seen some disgusting work refrigerators. For sure. So I did the inverse. I made a note from a fake employee and put it on the kitchen fridge saying, whoever stole my sushi, stop and signed it Chris. Nobody named Chris worked in the building. But for two weeks, they shut down trying to figure out who Chris was. I'm like, there's nobody here. There was signs on the wall. I'm like, you guys are so. I talked about it on the air. I'm like, I'm going to do this prank. And nobody apparently was listening. So for weeks, trying to figure out who was stealing Chris's sushi. I'm like, there is no Chris. It doesn't exist. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm with with you. You like that is so gross. Yeah. I would never like gourmet sandwich. I mean, I guess that probably means it was probably from a restaurant. But I don't know. I mean, you don't know how other people keep their kitchens. You don't know how clean other people are. Like all I think about when I think of someone else's prepared food is hands. Yes. And that is so gross. Don't do that. That's gross. It reminds me of that episode of Friends where Ross had the Moist Maker sandwich. Yeah. The Thanksgiving sandwich with the moist maker in it and he had a little meltdown over it. So if a person gets hurt by you doing that, are you liable? That's a good question. You have a heart attack from the spiciness or something like that. I don't know. If you have a heart attack from the spiciness, you might have other problems. It's not coming. Although that did exacerbate it. So maybe you are responsible. But if you do that, then you deserve to die, though. If the lawyer is good enough, I think it's possible. Has this ever happened to you? All right, moving on. Dictionary.com revealed its word of the year for 2024, and you can probably call it less of a word, more of a modifier. Maxing, M-A-X-X-I-N-G, Gen Z and alpha slang for optimizing something. It has its roots in video game culture, and it actually works as a noun, verb, adjective, and adverb all at one. Very much like the F word. Looksmaxing remains the most popular version of the word used by influencers to describe extreme measures to enhance appearance, which when you look at John, you think there's a guy who looksmaxes to the extreme here. Are they maxing the right word this year? To me, we keep making up words for things that already exist. It's just doing your best, looksmaxing, workout maxing, doing the best you can. That's what we do, so I'm not a big fan of it. We keep doing this. I love it. You do? I love it. I think it's so funny. Although I did, I don't know if this is too dark. I mean, you said some weird stuff. Oh, we're the perfect platform. no so my company we were all i mean it was 9-11 it was 25 years no so it's 9-11 and like it's me and my team and we're all on Slack and you know we're sharing some of the stories and i mean i'm sure all of us we all work remote i'm sure everyone's just like crying in their own you know space and stuff but i was like you guys we have to stop 9-11 maxing today because it was like all day and you know so i don't know that got some laughs from my team but it's hilarious because we've used it it's been used on so many things so no i i i totally understand where you're coming from with that yeah yeah um skip i'm just i'm tired of like the creating these words and other things and it's like okay it means maximizing but the kids are like maxing and i'm maxed out he's maxed out yeah okay i i want to just say the name though clavicular just i just want to say it i wanted to say i couldn't remember his name i got you I thank you. I couldn't remember the name because, you know, he's, I mean, well, he was in the headlines for some more, if we're making jokes about that, but certainly some much more controversial things recently, which we won't get into here. But Google it if you want, just as long as you can spell clavicular first. Still to come, some backlash for this year's sexiest man alive, the beef over Noah Wyle's new title when we come right back. Okay, welcome back. This is Like It or Not. People magazine has deemed TV doctor Noah Wiley. By the way, this guy's played a TV doctor for most of his career between ER and The Pit. He's the sexiest man alive for this year. The 55-year-old star of The Pit gladly took the title bestowed on him by the magazine. Noah said he first thought the honor was a prank, and apparently some keyboard warriors had a lot to say about people's choice, including, is this a joke? And he's not even the sexiest man on the show. Regardless, Wiley joins his former ER co-star, George Clooney, who won the title of sexiest man alive. Vanessa, Noah Wyle, sexiest man alive, like it or not. I don't like it at all. I think it was a big miss. But I usually disagree. I'm very curious about what the actual process of selecting this is because obviously it should have been Nathan Fielder. Oh, my God. I'm just kidding. That'd be great. Honestly, I thought that it would have been Travis Kelce. That's who I thought it was going to be this year. You don't know who Nathan? I don't know who Nathan is. No, welcome to Fox 5's We'll Wait Until Kenneth Googles Something. Who is this person? He did that crazy Theranos doc. Oh, yeah. The one that he stared intently into. Yes. Okay, yeah. He had been perfect for it, I think. Okay. I knew this guy was. The beautiful Adonis. Oh, okay. Nathan Fielder. Okay. I love that. Wait, you've never heard of Noah Wyle? I had to Google who he was. What? I didn't know what the show was either. I didn't know what The Pit was. I thought it was an MTV Challenge show. The Pit is great. I have not. There's so many hospital shows. Can't they just fix all the diseases now? It's like Grey's Anatomy. You should be shut down as a hospital because nobody lives there. They all die. No, no, they're all banging each other. I mean, is that what it comes down to? In the elevator sometimes. Yeah, yeah. I got hospitals in my office. Seattle. What is it, Seattle Grace Hospital? Is that what it is? It's Grace Sloan Memorial. Oh, Grace Sloan, okay. He's like, come on. Wow. Never forget Grace Sloan. And her hospital. I've always said that. Yeah, okay. Yeah. Okay, Noah Wiley, I actually, you know what? Beauty is subjective, and it's in the eye of the beholder, all those things. And he's a great actor, all those things. I just think that they like doing this, people, or it's people, right? It's people, right. Because, especially if it's going to be controversial or whatever, just because it gets people talking. I feel like we do this every single year. We're acknowledging a magazine. We're acknowledging a print magazine in the year 2026. Who's reading people? Yeah. Constantine I was hoping it was going to be Richard Kind. I think after all these years. You've got to be kind. You don't even know. Do you know who Richard Kind is? I've heard the name. I wanted to just throw up somebody obscure and see if John would pick that up. I'm young. Yeah. But in a unique world, in a perfect world, who would have been the choice? Obviously, Jim Loki. Of course. Thank you. Thank you. Hello. Hi. I could have said myself, but I chose you. You did. You did because you're selfless. I think Timothee Chalamet would have made sense. He had kind of a big ear. He's not a man. I do not understand that at all. He's not a man. He could be the sexiest woman alive. He could be the sexiest man. He's a Kardashian. Let's see how he ages. He is a Kardashian now. He is a Kardashian. Let's see how he ages, and then we take it from there. Sexiest boy. No, no, no, no, no, no. We're not saying that. Oh, really, Matthew? Okay. Will John be back after the break? That's our poll question. No. No, we're going to ask you. But you think AI is a friend or therapist? 22% of you like it, 78% of you don't. Chris Hansen on the other side of the break. Have a seat. Why don't you have a seat? That was a great movie, by the way. It was. It was a really good movie. Robert Pattinson, he could have met. A little time before we head out tonight. John, what's going on in your life? What do you want to talk about? What do you want to promote? Podcast hit a million views and listens this week. Thanks to our prominent guest, Jim Locke. I mean, we're winners. So the John cast every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, but one million. Last week, my phone rings at 1045 in the morning, and I see his name. And if you notice, I didn't realize I was on the pod at the time. So I answer, hello, good morning. And then he goes, hey, it's the Answer John show with Shelby Sauce. I'm like, hey, guys, what's going on? Turn it on. Got a new voice instantly. Turn it on. Absolutely. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah, yeah. Vanessa, always good to see you. Good to see you, man. I love it. I love being here. I love you guys. You want to ask me what I got going on? Yeah, what you got going on? Just waiting for the Brewers to take it tonight. Yeah. The World Series, you mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay, good. Sports. Sports ball. Give it to Tampa. Sports ball. Our poll question tonight, using AI as a friend or therapist. 21% of you like it, 79% of you don't. We'll be back tomorrow. Meanwhile, do you like it or not? Producer Chris is over on Fox Local just about to go live.