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"Smallville" chalked up some of its best numbers since its last season finale, earning a 1.8 rating/3 share average in Fast National ratings from The Nielsen Co.

The jump might have a little to do with slightly weaker competition Friday night, but more with the fact that former "Stargate SG-1" star Michael Shanks popped in for a special two-hour episode.

In fact, "Smallville" got better as the night went on, starting out with a 1.7/3, and finishing with a 1.9/3. that was the highest rating "Smallville" has received this season, and is just slightly below the 2.0/4 it got in its previous season finale on May 7.

But the numbers are still weak for the show. "Smallville" is averaging a 1.6/3 in overnights so far this year, more than 33 percent off its average last season when it aired on Thursdays.

It was also the first time "Smallville" beat its former Thursday partner, "Supernatural," in the weekly ratings since tying the show the week of Nov. 1, and actually beating it the week of Oct. 11. In fact, "Supernatural" is averaging a 1.7/3 this year, which remains down 19 percent from its previous year, and is currently losing 32 percent from its "Vampire Diaries" lead-in, compared to the 27 percent average audience erosion coming out of "Smallville" in 2008-09.

As expected, "Lost" finished on top, pushing everything else on the genre list down. "Fringe," which had achieved its best numbers of the season against reruns last week, had its old competition return, but still put in a healthy 4.3/7, according to Zap2it. "Heroes" on NBC continued to languish, falling to a 2.7/4 on Monday as a lead-out from "Chuck."

Fast Nationals usually provide a snapshot of what Americans are watching by pulling numbers from the top urban markets that includes both live viewing and same-day timeshifted viewing. A rating point generally represents more than 1.1 million households while the share indicates the percentage of televisions turned on that was tuned to the specific program. These numbers typically shift when final ratings are issued.

Top Genre Shows, Week of Jan. 31 -- [Audience Loyalty Index rating]
1. (-) Lost (ABC) -- 6.9/11 -- [100.0]
2. (-) Lost (ABC) -- 6.5/11 -- [97.1]
3. (1) Fringe (Fox) -- 4.3/7 -- [76.9]
4. (2) Chuck (NBC) -- 3.9/6 -- [95.3]
5. (3) Heroes (NBC) -- 2.7/4 -- [93.1]
6. (4) Vampire Diaries (CW) -- 2.4/4 -- [80.6]
7. (6) Smallville (CW) -- 1.9/3 -- [84.2]
8. (6) Smallville (CW) -- 1.7/3 -- [84.2]
9. (5) Supernatural (CW) -- 1.5/2 -- [81.0]

Data collected from The Nielsen Co., as distributed by Zap2it. BlipNetwork tracks non-news, non-event programming, and figures for this story reflect airing of new episodes only. For more information on the Audience Loyalty Index, click here.