UPDATED: NBC's singing competition improves from last fall, helping the network to an easy nightly win, and Fox's "Sleepy Hollow" shows solid retention in the face of increased competition -- besting CBS comedies.

The broadcast networks continue to see good news this fall, with Monday's official launch of the new fall season bringing in a lot of big returns -- especially for NBC.

The Voice returned for its fifth cycle at 8 p.m., besting the previous two premieres with a 4.9 rating among adults 18-49 according to Fast National returns. Last fall's opener, the most direct comparison, brought a 4.2 adults rating. And, for those keeping track, this also marks the best Voice premiere outside of the massive episode that aired after the 2012 Super Bowl. It raked in the most viewers of any program with an audience of 14.66 million.

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The Blacklist parlayed those lead-in numbers into a big premiere, though it was down a shade from last year's early opener from Revolution (4.1 adults) in the same hour. The new drama brought in a 3.8 adults rating and 12.6 million viewers at 10 p.m., besting CBS rival Hostages (1.8 adults) by a considerable margin. Blacklist could see some adjustments in final returns, as The Voice ran over by a minute.

Initial ratings give NBC an average 4.6 rating among adults 18-49 and 13.98 million viewers for the night -- easy wins in both measurements.

How I Met Your Mother solidified its status as CBS' Monday heavyweight, outdrawing the rest of the lineup considerably by returning to an even 3.6 rating with adults 18-49 in its one-hour premiere. The first episode of the comedy's final season led into 2 Broke Girls. The series averaged a 2.8 adults rating, down nearly a full point from last year's launch (3.7 adults). New comedy Mom (2.5 adults), while softer than the established series, held a good portion of its lead-in -- but it was still a slide from former time-slot resident Mike & Molly's opener (3.1 adults) last season.

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With its 1.8 adults rating, Hostages came in last place for the 10 p.m. hour -- eclipsed by The Blacklist and ABC's Castle. It averaged the same rating as Hawaii Five-0 last season. CBS averaged a 2.7 rating among adults 18-49 and 8.3 million viewers.

Sleepy Hollow (3.1 adults) fell just 11 percent from last week's Fox premiere (3.5 adults), despite a big increase in competition from NBC and CBS. The drama, which grew 43 percent in its first Live+Three Day returns, boasted significant retention. The series' lead-in, Bones (1.9 adults), fell a little more against the new programming. The drama slipped four-tenths of a point. Fox averaged a 2.5 rating with adults 18-49 and 7.6 million viewers.

Over on ABC, Dancing With the Stars suffered the expected week-two drop, falling 26 percent to a 2.3 rating among adults 18-49. Castle (2.2 adults) was up just a tenth of a point from last fall's launch, but that was enough to secure easy second-place status in the 10 p.m. hour. ABC brought in a 2.3 adults rating and 12.7 million viewers for the night.

The CW, still in summer encores, averaged a 0.2 rating in the demo and 726,000 viewers. Univision brought in a 1.3 adults rating and 3.4 million viewers, while Telemundo pulled a 0.4 demo rating and 1 million viewers.