Quiz Lady: Everything We Know About The Comedy With Awkwafina, Sandra Oh, And Will Ferrell

Game shows have been a staple of the world's television-viewing diet since the medium's infancy. "Spelling Bee" first hit the British telly in 1938, while "Truth or Consequences" made a one-off debut on New York City's WNBT in 1941. Our fascination with smarty pants contestants flaunting their vast trivia knowledge brought us the high-stakes duo of NBC's "Twenty-One" and CBS' "The 64,000 Question," which led to the 1950s quiz show scandals (an important, if depressing moment in American television history dramatized in Robert Redford's 1994 masterpiece "Quiz Show").

Over a half-century later, we're still hooked on programs like "Jeopardy," "Wheel of Fortune" and "The Price Is Right." Some of these shows require contestants to be genuinely well-read; others ask people to be semi-knowledgeable about retail value and physically capable of spinning a big wheel. Regardless of the skill (or utter lack thereof) involved, there is something undeniably thrilling about watching a regular working stiff go on live television and win a decent chunk of change. Depending on the show, life-changing money could be involved.

This is the premise of 20th Century Studios' forthcoming comedy "Quiz Lady."

According to Disney's press release, "Quiz Lady" debuts exclusively on Hulu in the U.S., Star+ in Latin America, and Disney+ under the Star banner in all other territories on November 3, 2023. There's a chance it might get a limited theatrical release as well, but we're not sure. 

"Quiz Lady" stars Awkwafina as Anne, a gameshow addict who gets entangled in a scheme to recover her mother's gambling debts. When Anne's dog gets kidnapped, she is personally motivated to transform herself into a gameshow juggernaut capable of saving her mother and her pooch. What I want to know is what kind of game shows will Anne appear on? Judging from the recently released promotional images, it looks like Schwartzman and Ferrell are playing hosts. Ferrell obviously has expertise in satirizing Alex Trebek from his "Saturday Night Live" days, so there's potential for big laughs here. Schwartzman will soon star in "The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" as the magic-obsessed host of the annual Hunger Games, so it'll be interesting to see how the two characters differ on screen.

Awkwafina is joined on her cross-country quest by her messed-up sister Jenny (Sandra Oh), and comes into contact with the formidably funny likes of Jason Schwartzman, Tony Hale, Holland Taylor and Will Ferrell. "Quiz Lady" is directed by Jessica Yu and written by Jen D'Angelo. Yu scored a minor critical hit with the comedy "Ping Pong Playa," but she's probably best known as a prestige TV director with credits on "The West Wing," "This Is Us" and "Billions." D'Angelo is a well-regarded writer and actor who's worked on "Cougar Town," "Workaholics" and "Solar Opposites." That's a pretty decent pedigree. 

The film is produced by Will Ferrell, Jessica Elbaum, Maggie Haskins, Itay Reiss, Jen D'Angelo, Awkwafina, and Sandra Oh, with Alex Brown and Erika Hampson serving as executive producers.

Watch the trailer for "Quiz Lady" above, and check out the official synopsis from Hulu right here:

In "Quiz Lady," a brilliant but tightly wound, gameshow-obsessed young woman, Anne (Awkwafina), and her estranged, train-wreck of a sister Jenny (Sandra Oh), must work together to help cover their mother's gambling debts. When Anne's beloved dog is kidnapped, they set out on a wild, cross-country trek to get the cash the only way they know how: by turning Anne into a bona-fide gameshow champion.