Double Starpower

By Bill Hartnett, NBC Universal

The CES hordes just converged on the NBCU booth as Access Hollywood's Nancy O'Dell joined CNBC's Maria Bartiromo on booth Stage One for a live hit on Closing Bell. It's been busy here at the booth, but this one really brought 'em in. They even got a standing ovation. I guess everybody was already standing, but you could feel the love as applause rocked our whole booth.

"All of a sudden you cannot move around the anchor desk we're calling booth Stage One. What's the draw for the crowd that wasn't here nano seconds ago? It's Maria Bartiromo who's anchoring CNBC's Closing Bell from the stand and is proving once again the value of the stars in our universe. You can have the product and business news has certainly proven its value; and you can have the best brand which arguably CNBC is; but you need the star to pull it all together. And Maria is demonstrating it all over again." ~ Jeff Gralnick, NBC Universal

I wonder if Brian Williams will draw the same crowd tomorrow night when he announces the new NBC Nightly News website..... hmmm.

Access Hollywood launches their new website later today and Maria is hosting a big blowout with 70's rock legend Peter Frampton tonight at the Gibson Guitar tent (CP1). Show us the way, Peter!