Nellie Andreeva

GSN (formerly Game Show Network) has picked up Family Trade, a new original unscripted series about the quirky barter system employed by G-Stone Motors, a GMC and Ford dealership in Middlebury, Vermont. GSN has ordered eight episodes of the series, from Lionsgate and Eli Frankel’s studio-based Rogue State Prods., for a 2013 premiere.

The docu series, which echos such hit cable reality franchises as Pawn Stars and Storage Wars, is part of GSN’s strategy to broaden from studio-based game shows into other programming genres under new programming chief Amy Introcaso-Davis. “With Family Trade, GSN launches a new category of original series that we call Real-Life Games—shows that take place in real settings and feature real-life risk,” she said. “We’re taking the cameras out of the studio to celebrate how people become winners in everyday real-life situations.”

At G-Stone Motors, founder Gardner Stone will trade you a beautiful new car or truck for anything you’ve got that he thinks he can sell—pigs, a hot air balloon, coffins, maple syrup, dolls, a shoe collection. But Stone’s son Todd and daughter Darcy, who work with him in the business, usually have very different ideas about what makes a good trade, and they have the unenviable task of re-selling whatever their father has bought.  Each 30-minute episode will feature the outrageous, hotly contested barter stories at G-Stone Motors—with a simmering stew of family drama cooking alongside.

GSN’s new slate of programming kicks off on August 23rd with the series premiere of The American Bible Challenge hosted by Jeff Foxworthy, Beat The Chefs hosted by Matt Rogers and the September 3rd premiere of The Pyramid hosted by Mike Richards.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.