In 1989, Burns and television producer Robert Small joined together to co-create and produce MTV Unplugged, a new series featuring artists performing acoustic, stripped down versions of their songs. According to Robert Small, Burns believed that a show like Unplugged would create another venue for reaching audiences besides music videos, which were highly popular at the time. Small told the New York Post that Burns thought, "How can we create another avenue for artists?....It allowed for artists to show another side, for instance, a lot of hip-hop artists had the chance to be more lyrical and poetic."
