Now that President Obama has visited Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show,” will GOP presidential challenger Mitt Romney respond by appearing on David Letterman’s “Late Show” — with less than two weeks to go before the election?
The answer: Don’t hold your breath — but anything can happen in the fast-changing world of TV.
“There’s nothing new,” “Late Show” executive producer Rob Burnett told me yesterday. “We’re still waiting. Gov. Romney has a standing invitation, and if he decides to come [on the show], we’re here.
“If Gov. Romney needs a car, we’ll send him a car.”
As The Post reported several weeks back, Letterman has been imploring Romney to visit “Late Show” after Romney — in the now-infamous “47 percent” video — said Letterman “hates” him because he’s appeared on rival Leno’s “Tonight Show” many times. Romney has appeared three times on “Late Show,” but not since last December and not since winning the GOP presidential nomination.
Letterman insists he’s got no axe to grind with Romney, and he’s repeatedly invited him and his wife, Ann, onto “Late Show” — but has thus far been spurned.
Still, Burnett — who’s also CEO of Letterman’s Worldwide Pants production company — says things can change on a dime.
“Sometimes these things come together at the last minute,” he says. “But, as of right now, there’s no indication [Romney] will be coming on [the show] before the election.”
President Obama’s visit to “Tonight,” by the way, gave the show its best overnight numbers in over two-and-a-half years (when Leno returned after his aborted prime-time show). It was up nearly 50 percent in households over its season average.
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Fox will promote the January premiere of “The Following” (James Purefoy, Kevin Bacon) with an event unfolding simultaneously next Wednesday (Halloween) from 3 to 11 p.m. (local time) in several cities — including New York, LA and Chicago.
The series, created by Kevin Williamson (“The Vampire Diaries,” “Dawson’s Creek”), revolves around an ex-FBI agent (Bacon) who’s lured out of retirement to help track down a serial killer, Joe Carroll (Purefoy), who’s cultivated a web of imitators nationwide.
Toward that end, Fox’s stunt will involve a team of Carroll’s “followers” who are roaming the streets (and will be covered, head-to-toe, with explicit messages like, “do I look like a killer?”), all of whom will be giving out limited-edition “The Following” holographic bookmarks, which will direct people to wearethefollowing.com for “special messages” from Carroll.
The exact location of the “followers” hasn’t yet been determined.
“The Following” co-stars Natalie Zea, Annie Parisse, Shawn Ashmore, Valorie Curry, Adan Canto and Nico Tortorella.
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Regis Philbin, who gave “Rachael Ray” a ratings shot-in-the-arm as a special guest, will guest-co-host Monday’s edition of “The Talk” on CBS (2 p.m./Ch. 2). “The Talk” has been steadily increasing its viewership this season and, last week, averaged nearly 2.2 million viewers, which was up 11 percent over the same week last year. The show is averaging 2.3 million viewers for the season with co-hosts Julie Chen, Sara Gilbert, Aisha Tyler, Sharon Osbourne and Sheryl Underwood.
Elsewhere on the talk-show scene, “Steve Harvey” host Steve Harvey visits competitor Ellen DeGeneres on “Ellen” next Tuesday, Oct. 30. His show leads into hers here in New York on Ch. 4 (“Harvey” at 3 followed by “Ellen” at 4).
This is no synergistic cross-promotional occasion, since Harvey’s show is co-produced by Endemol and NBC, while DeGeneres’ talker is produced by Telepictures (Warner Bros.).
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Last, but not least:
* “Second Coming? Will Black America Decide 2012” airs tonight at 9 on BET with Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Ice Cube and many others. The documentary is narrated by S. Epatha Merkerson . . . Judy Sheindlin (“Judge Judy”) guests on this Monday’s “Katie” (3 p.m./Ch. 7) and, that night, receives her Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame
Award . . . Web TV: “Burning Love,” which spoofs reality dating shows, has been renewed for two more seasons on Yahoo! Screen; “Fresh Meat” debuts exclusively in the US on Hulu and Hulu Plus starting this Sunday with stars Jack Whitehall, Joe Thomas and Kimberly Nixon . . . Seasons 2 through 4 of TNT’s “Southland” will be out on DVD in early February.