Camp Candy is an animated television series produced by DiC Entertainment, with comedian John Candy providing the voice for an animated version of himself.
The show was set in a fictional summer camp run by Candy. It also featured his children, Jennifer and Christopher Candy, in supporting roles. The animated series spawned a brief comic book series based on the show; also entitled Camp Candy, it was published by Marvel Comics' Star Comics imprint.
Nineteen episodes of the series aired during the 1989-1990 season on the NBC television network. Repeats ran in syndication, and on the Fox Family cable channel (now ABC Family) in 1999.
Harry Nilsson wrote the series' theme song, which Candy sang.
The later syndicated rebroadcast featured live action segments featuring Candy.
In both versions, the closing credits featured songs about Camp Candy that were sung to the tune of various traditional "campfire" songs.
Almost all episodes would begin where John Candy would be trying to show an outdoor skill to some kids, to which he would then say it reminded him of a story, where he would tell of the episode in narration. John was a dedicated leader of Camp Candy, a summer camp that is presumably built by him, and he tries to get various kids to get along. The children included Robin, a nature-loving girl, Alex, a tomboy, Vanessa, a fashionista, Iggy, a hypochondriac and his more adventurous younger brother Binky, and Rick, an arrogant prankster. Adult characters also included Nurse Molly, who had a crush on John but he never seemed to take notice as he was interested in an attractive redheaded receptionist called Miss Sweetingham. John's main antagonists were Rex DeForrest III, a man who seeks to demolish Camp Candy in order to make way for a condominium, and Chester, a dimwitted greaser employed by DeForrest. Another antangonist included Hob Nayles, a strict disciplinarian who headed the rival Camp Kickboot and sought to humiliate John, but was really a coward at heart. In the second season another adult character was added to the adult staff of Camp Candy, a very tall Eastern European man named Botch who was the camp cook who would always be seen with a basketball when he was not working.
