Emmitt Smith pulled off an upset win over Mario Lopez on last night’s finale of “Dancing with the Stars,” but there was no surprise about the show’s ratings. It tangoed off the air with the most-watched episode of any show of the 2006-2007 year on broadcast.

“Stars” drew 27.2 million total viewers, according to Nielsen overnights, equaling last February’s season finale. Among adults 18-49, it drew a 7.0 rating, down from season two’s 8.6 but still dominating the competition.

“Stars” nearly outdrew the combined totals of NBC, CBS, Fox and the CW among total viewers at 8 p.m.

It bettered Tuesday’s competition portion of the “Stars” finale by about 400,000 viewers and should help ABC maintain its 18-49 lead in the November sweeps.

There was, however, some bad news for the network on the night. The two-hour series premiere of the Taye Diggs drama “Day Break,” which received a gigantic lead-in from “Stars” and had been heavily promoted on “Lost” for weeks, lost nearly half of its lead-in in 18-49s and could sink further without the benefit of “Stars” in the coming weeks.

“Break” averaged a 3.7 18-49 rating and 10.5 million total viewers over 120 minutes. Its ratings declined in every half hour, going from a 4.5 and nearly 14 million at 9 p.m. to a 3.2 and 8.5 million by 10:30.

In other season premiere news, NBC’s “Medium” also had a two-hour debut. It averaged a 3.5 in the 9-11 p.m. timeslot, down 15 percent from its 4.1 average last season.

Thanks to “Stars,” ABC was first for the night among 18-49s with a 4.8 average rating and a 12 share. CBS was second at 4.4/11, NBC third at 3.3/8, Fox fourth at 2.5/6, Univision fifth at 1.7/5 and CW sixth at 1.7/4.
 
At 8 p.m. ABC led comfortably with its 7.0 average for the “Stars” finale. CBS was second that hour with a 3.0 for “Jericho,” Fox third with a 2.9 for “Bones,” NBC fourth with a 2.8 for “The Biggest Loser,” CW fifth with a 2.2 for “America’s Next Top Model” and Univision sixth with a 2.1 for “La Fea Mas Bella.”
 
CBS took the lead at 9 p.m. with a 4.9 for “Criminal Minds,” with ABC falling to second with a 4.0 for the first hour of the premiere of “Break.” Though “Minds” did well, it’s interesting to note that it was about even to the previous week, when it faced “Lost.”

NBC was third during the hour with a 3.3 average for the first half of the premiere of “Medium,” Fox fourth with a 2.0 for a repeat of “Bones,” Univision fifth with a 1.5 for “Mundo de Fieras” and CW sixth with a 1.3 for “One Tree Hill.” “Hill” did, however, have its best retention of the season among women 18-34 out of “Model,” averaging a 2.7 thanks to a crossover with the series.
 
At 10 p.m. CBS led again, this time with a 5.1 for “CSI: NY.” NBC was second with a 3.7 for the second half of “Medium,” ABC third with a 3.4 for the last hour of “Break” and Univision fourth with a 1.6 for “Don Francisco Presenta.”
 
ABC finished first for the night among households with a 10.5 average rating and a 16 share. CBS was second at 8.8/14, NBC third at 5.5/8, Fox fourth at 4.3/7, CW fifth at 2.6/4 and Univision sixth at 2.2/3.