The World Series made a surprise comeback last week, drawing an average of 19.4 million viewers and peaking in Game 6 with 22.3 million, according to final figures released this week by Nielsen Research. Last year the series, hamstrung by rain delays, averaged 13.6 million viewers, a record low. The previous low mark was set in 2006 with 15.8 million tuning in, and 2007's audience was only slightly larger. Meanwhile, football remained a potent weekly force with NBC's Sunday telecast of the Cowboys/Eagles contest drawing 21.9 million viewers. Tuesday night also produced robust competition between CBS's veteran drama NCIS and ABC's newcomer V. Airing in the same 8:00 p.m. time period, NCIS attracted 20.2 million viewers and landed in third place for the week (behind the Wednesday baseball game and the Sunday football game), while V drew 14.3 million viewers, good enough for 12th place. Each of the nightly news programs showed significant audience gains. NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams once again led with an average of 9.5 million viewers. ABC World News with Charles Gibson followed with an average of 8.4 million, while the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric trailed with 6.2 million viewers. Overall, CBS won the week with an average 7.0 rating and an 11 share. Fox followed in second place with a 6.5/10. ABC was close behind with an average 5.9/10, while NBC trailed with a 5.1/8.