MTV is bringing back 'Unplugged'

MTV is getting back into the music television business -- in a big way. 

The network announced Thursday at its Upfront presentation that it's bringing back Unplugged, a concert series that highlights musicians' skills with stripped-down performances. 

"We're on a mission to reignite MTV with everything that makes it one of the world’s most iconic brands -- its soul of music, its love of pop culture, and its unexpected, groundbreaking creative," said Sean Atkins, President of MTV in a statement.

"What we share today is just the beginning, but it’s a strong first step in the journey and shows how aggressively we are moving to energize the extraordinary promise of this great brand." 

Unplugged first debuted on MTV in the late '80s -- an era that was being dominated by heavily-produced music. It sought to highlight artists' musical talent without the bells and whistles of your typical concert performance. Some famous episodes -- there have been over 100 performances show on the series -- featured artists like Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Mariah Carey and Nirvana.  

It ran regularly through the 90s before being rebooted a number of times. MTV has not shown an Unplugged special since 2014 when it featured a one-off episode with Miley Cyrus. 

"Through its distinctive format, MTV Unplugged manages the miraculous feat of reaching beyond core fans to connect contemporary artists to heritage audiences and heritage artists to younger audiences in equal measures. The conditions are right in 2016 to do it again," MTV said in a release. "The revitalized Unplugged will restore key elements that made the franchise so groundbreaking in the first place, while resetting the show in the multi-platform video world of today." 

In addition to Unplugged, MTV has ordered several other music-based series, including a music competition series from Mark Burnett and an L.A-based weekly performance series called Wonderland. 

MTV also announced that it's pairing with Scooter Braun Films to develop Studio 24, a show that will pair up a famous artist and a mystery talent and give them just 24 hours to write a song. 

The network is also in development a new music docuseries called Year One, which will tell the story of a superstar's breakthrough year using archival footage. 

And in further revival news, MTV announced plans to re-launch Cribs as a short-form series created specifically for Snapchat.

Cribs for Snapchat will launch in late June and air weekly and feature a celebrity or artist giving a tour of their house. 

Mac Miller, Austin Mahone and Travis Mills have all signed on for the Cribs reboot.

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