• Associated Press via Yahoo, Wednesday, September 26, 2007 11 AM

More than 15.5 million viewers tuned to the 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. premiere of Ken Burns' "The War," with even more catching the repeat at 10:30, according to PBS estimates. That means preliminary figures for the documentary top all but three of his previous offering: "The Civil War" in 1990, "Lewis & Clark" in 1997 and "Baseball" in 1994.

"The Civil War" miniseries drew a cumulative audience of 38.9 million viewers, while "Baseball" was seen by 43.1 million, records for the largest total audiences for any program in the net's history. Cumulative numbers for "The War" will be available from Nielsen Media Research in November.

"The War" will air through Wednesday and then next Sunday through Oct. 2.

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