Several cable networks are going back to the future this fall by resurrecting high-profile, unscripted series franchises in an effort to lure back old fans as well as to bring in a new generation of viewers.

On Labor Day (Sept. 4), A&E will bring back its Emmy-winning Biography series after a five-year hiatus. The series, which aired in syndication before debuting on A&E in 1987 and ran on FYI (formerly Bio) through 2012, will again profile the lives of marquee entertainers and their impact on culture, executive VP and head of programming Elaine Frontain Bryant said.

The first installment of the new series, "The Notorious Life of Biggie Smalls," chronicles the slain hip-hop pioneer.

“Bringing back the Biography brand is so important for us,” Bryant said.

RELATED: A&E 's Elaine Frontain Bryant discusses 'Biography' and the network's Emmy-nominted unscripted shows (VIDEO)
Also returning to the television stage in September is MTV’s Unplugged. The series, which first debuted in 1989, features musical acts playing their most popular songs on acoustic instruments and bows Sept. 8 with pop music star Shawn Mendes.

Later this year, Discovery Channel will offer a revival of game show Cash Cab, starring Ben Bailey, who originally drove the New York taxi that gave unwitting passengers an opportunity to win prizes during the show’s first run on the network from 2005-12.

Discovery Group president Rich Ross said the familiarity of reboots like Cash Cab gives such shows a leg up.

“When you don’t have to resell a premise, it’s much easier to break through in a crowded environment,” he said.

MTV will rebrand VH1 Classic into an MTV Classic channel that will feature vintage MTV programming from the 1990s, the network said Thursday.

VH1 Classic’s rock-themed music videos and live concert programming will be replaced by MTV Classic on Aug. 1 – 35 years to the day that MTV first debuted, said network officials. The newly branded network will launch by replaying MTV’s first hour of programming from 1981, said network officials.

 The “MTV Hour One” will also air on MTV’s Facebook page via Facebook Live.

Later that day MTV Classic will also air a Total Request Live retrospective,The TRL Decade, as well as a marathon of MTV Unplugged episodes featuring such artists as Bob Dylan, Alice In Chains, Erykah Badu, Oasis, Neil Young and Nirvana.

In primetime the network will air classic MTV animated including Daria, Beavis & Butt-head and Aeon Flux.

The network’s weekly schedule will feature MTV’s classic music series every Friday in primetime including MTV Unplugged, Storytellers and live music performances, while on weekends the network will offer full season marathons of such shows as The Real World, Laguna Beach and Road Rules.

“From ‘Beavis & Butt-head’ to ‘Laguna Beach,’ MTV’s programming vault is a music and pop culture goldmine with universal resonance,” said Sean Atkins, President of MTV.  “MTV Classic gives audiences a modern and artful home for classic MTV programming and — alongside MTV, MTV2, MTV Live and mtvU — rounds out a diverse portfolio with music and youth culture at its core."

VH1 Classic is the latest network in the MTV family to be rebranded. In February MTV’s Palladia channel was renamed MTV Live, while VH1 Soul was rebranded BET Soul last December. 

Google’s has been the subject of OTT-TV rumors for years, but Bloomberg reports today that its YouTube unit is building a pay TV service called “Unplugged” that could launch as soon as 2017.

An exec with a top national programmer confirmed that YouTube has such a project in the works and has reached out about cutting distribution deals for it.

According to Bloomberg, YouTube is in talks with most major programmers and media companies, including NBCUniversal, Viacom, Twenty-First Century Fox and CBS, but has yet to lock up any deals. However, YouTube wants to offer a base service that costs about $35 per month, with options to add thematic tiers for smaller monthly fees, the report noted.

Bloomberg said YouTube has working toward a cable-like OTT-TV service since at least 2012, but said those plans have taken on increased urgency in recent months. Notably, the sector is becoming flush with OTT-TV options, including Sling TV from Dish Network, Sony’s PlayStation Vue, and a skinny TV offering from Hulu that’s expected to launch sometime next year.  Apple and Amazon are also rumored to be working on pay TV offerings, though Apple’s been running into a wall in its pursuit of a slimmed-down service that would offer broadcast TV channels on a national basis.  Meanwhile, other programmers, such as CBS, Starz, HBO and Showtime, have all launched direct-to-consumer services that are piped in over high-speed Internet connections.

YouTube’s interest in a pay TV service would also follow last year’s launch of its YouTube Red subscription service, and its large array of individual subscription “channels.”