The Voice Season 28 premieres with new safety net and format changes

The Voice returned to NBC on Monday, Sept. 22, with the premiere of its 28th season, featuring coaches Michael Bublé, Reba McEntire, Niall Horan and Snoop Dogg and the opening round of blind auditions filmed before a live studio audience. The season will air new episodes Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. Eastern, with episodes available to stream the next day on the network's streaming service and live on some platforms.

Monday's program opened the first blind-audition episodes, in which coaches sit with their chairs turned away and select singers based solely on vocal performance. Blind auditions will continue in the coming days before the competition moves into battles and later elimination rounds. Producers have introduced several format changes this season intended to shift some power toward contestants and create new pathways to advance.

Most notable is a new cameo-style safety net that gives host Carson Daly the authority to save an artist who receives no chair turns during a blind audition. When invoked, the host will offer a second chance to one performer, producers said. During the Battle Rounds, contestants will now be able to choose their own opponents, rather than being...