Coney Reyes on Camera was a weekly drama anthology that aired from May 19, 1984 to December 26, 1998 on RPN and ABS-CBN. It was the longest running drama anthology of its time in Philippine TV history until Maalaala Mo Kaya broke the record in 2006. Coney Reyes was the host, lead star, actress and producer.
Overview
The drama anthology stars Coney herself. Aside from her, actresses who alternate to play protagonist/central role for some episodes are Jaclyn Jose and Gina Alajar. In her program's episodes, Coney had been working with major celebrities such as Vic Sotto, Vilma Santos, Helen Vela, Aiza Seguerra, German Moreno, Aga Muhlach and Judy Ann Santos, among others. Kris Aquino, and Michelle van Eimeren, also appeared on the show in separate episodes. One of the most unforgettable episodes was the reunion episode with Vilma Santos and Tina Revilla Valencia in 1994 as a special tribute to the late Helen Vela. The roots of Coney's drama anthology was the Coney Reyes-Mumar Drama Studio, produced by Eddie Ilarde's Program Philippines and aired every Saturday on GMA after the hit noontime variety showStudent Canteen, where Coney was a co-host. However, in 1982, Coney moved to Student Canteen's rival show Eat Bulaga!, then airing on RPN. Drama Studio continued with former beauty queenChat Silayan as its main star. Silayan, along with Chiqui Hollmann, also replaced Coney on Canteen. In 1984, Coney was given a new drama anthology on RPN, originally entitled Coney Reyes-Mumar On The Set premiered on May 19, 1984. It aired right after Eat Bulaga! on Saturdays, and was first produced by BSH Productions. She later took over production of the show when she put up CAN Television. It was then retitled Coney Reyes On Camera. After the sequestration of RPN on February 11, 1989, the show, along with Eat Bulaga! and Agila, moved to ABS-CBN. TAPE produced shows would remain on the network until January 22, 1995. Despite the transfer of Eat Bulaga! and other TAPE shows to GMA Network, the show remained on ABS-CBN. Coney began to fully produce the show through the network's production unit, where it remained until its timeslot was temporarily replaced by Sports Unlimited and later, permanently replaced by Ang Munting Paraiso, a weekly drama series also starring herself. The show aired its final episode on December 26, 1998. It was reaired on ZOE TVChannel 11 from 2002 to 2003.
Trivia
The show's theme is "It's My Turn," performed by Diana Ross.
In its latter years, the show ended with a Biblical quotation of relevance to the episode.
In the show's later years, Coney stopped acting in the show and only did the opening and closing segments.
The show had competition with Lovingly Yours, Helen of GMA Network. However, out of respect and friendship, both Coney Reyes and Helen Vela agreed to air on different time slots. "Lovingly Yours Helen" occupied the Sunday afternoon timeslot.
