I caught some episodes of Northern Exposure where Maurice is on crutches.
What happened to his leg/ankle/foot?
According to this site, the actor broke his leg in real life and they had to write it into The Gift of the Maggie, but I can’t find in-show details. Maybe Maurice was injured trying to save his orchids from the house fire?
It happened offscreen, but I can’t remember what the explanation was. I think it was as simple as saying that Maurice had fallen and broken it (between episodes), so he was on crutches for awhile.
For some reason, I thought he fell off a horse. Maybe I’m just making up false memories, though. I do that from time to time. 