UNPLUGGED
MTV, 11:00 p.m. ET
MTV is conducting a “Flashback Friday” all day today, and it’s flashing back to a time when MTV presented videos, and programs that were worth watching. The videos are shown early in the day – but at 11 p.m. ET, MTV presents two vintage installments of its stripped-down acoustic concert series, Unplugged. First up: From 1993, the neo-acoustic Unplugged edition with Nirvana, in which Kurt Cobain (pictured) delivers a wholly commanding, emotionally intimate tour through his band’s catalogue, including a classic and haunting rendition of “All Apologies.” He and the band also do some cover versions – and last Saturday, one of the guitars played by Cobain during this TV concert was auctioned for $6 million. Then, at midnight ET, it’s a 1992 Unplugged hour with Pearl Jam, in which Eddie Vedder shows off what then was a stunning surprise, but which he’s proven countless times since: his ease and mastery as an acoustic singer and guitarist.