As anyone who has ever bought or sold a home can attest, trading in real estate is fraught with trepidation, tension, hopes, dreams and frustrations. In other words, the very stuff of drama. The new weekly series “Buy Me” (8 p.m., HGTV) takes a rather procedural view of buyers, sellers and brokers, and finds some interesting characters and situations along the way.

Tonight’s debut episode involves Paul, a 40-something bachelor who defies type (or at least TV stereotyping) by living in a large house in a leafy suburb. For reasons not entirely clear, he wants a bigger place. His existing manse, a cedar-shingled split-level built in the 1980s, is hardly cramped. In fact, his collection of bachelor possessions – weights, stereo equipment, golf clubs, big television sets, etc. – hardly makes a dent in the house’s massive square footage. But he wants something bigger, better, newer and nicer, so he puts the house on the market

This begins a series of frustrations for his beleaguered real estate agent, Amanda, who continually cajoles him to turn his adult dormitory into something a tad homier so she can present it to both families and single buyers. But don’t expect Paul to lay out the potpourri and bake bread for prospective buyers. In the end Amanda pulls it off, and Paul unloads his place for close to $300,000 and upgrades to a pile with a price tag of more than half a million. Amanda makes off with more than $24,000 in fees.

“Buy Me” does a good job of outlining the nail-biting process of buying and selling real estate but does so from a narrative distance that I found unsettling and frustrating. I know we don’t tune into HGTV for drama, but this “Buy Me” had all the elements of something interesting. Call me nosy, but I wanted to know Paul’s story. I don’t think “Buy Me” is bad. I’m just being persnickety because it’s so close to being something really addictive.

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ Coverage of the U.S. Open (6 p.m., USA) tennis match continues.

¢ The top 12 compete on “So You Think You Can Dance” (7 p.m., Fox).

¢ Rachel Weisz and Tom Dreesen appear on “Late Show with David Letterman” (10:35 p.m., CBS).

¢ Jay Leno is host to Selma Blair, John Caparulo and Avril Lavigne on “The Tonight Show” (10:35 p.m., NBC).