Google and Wiki have failed me. I seem to remember they were engaged, much to the snooty, uber-WASPy Dr. Craig’s dismay, but I forget what happened. The more details, the better - thanks!
He did marry…twice, but not Craig’s daughter.
Craig had a son, but not a daughter
I thought Erlich married the mean Greek nurse who was always insulting him.
Craig just had the one child, the son mentioned above. His son and his daughter-in-law, who was in her final month of pregnancy, were in a major traffic accident (his son was was a coke user but I don’t remember if this contributed to the accident). His son was killed and the daughter-in-law was in a coma; the baby was delivered, healthily, by C-section, and after a struggle with her blue collar parents (who ultimately they came to respect) the Craigs ultimately received custody.
The daughter-in-law eventually emerged from the coma. She lived with her parents while going through major physical therapies (which I think is when the Craigs get the baby- the parents simply couldn’t handle both brain damaged/physically traumatized daughter and a baby) and IIRC after some recovery she began dating again, which wasn’t a major plotline but the Craigs, particularly Mrs. Craig, were hurt. I don’t remember if she dated Ehrlich. Mrs. Craig’s empty nest syndrome/grief over her son caused a major breach in the Craig marriage that ultimately led to their separation.
William Daniels has a tendency to phone in performances after a while; Craig, like John Adams was arrogant, “obnoxious and disliked”, and brilliant, usually without a lot of nuance. This plotline, while a tad soap operatic, gave him the opportunity for some really good acting. The scene where he watches his son’s autopsy (the coroner has no idea that Craig is the father of the man whose organs he’s removing and who he’s casually saying “This dude was a user”) was incredible (IIRC- it’s been a generation when I saw it).
Craig remains pretty much his usual self throughout the funeral, he never has a Florida Evans “Damn! Damn! Damn!” moment, and his wife is ready to leave him because she sees him as heartless, and they try couples counseling. Several weeks intot he plotline there’s a somewhat powerful scene where Craig is seeing the counselor in private and the counselor asks “How are you handling the death of your son?”, and Daniels/Craig pauses for a moment before responding, then says, calmly but in very obvious pain, “Do you know that you are the first person to ask me that?” Really powerful scene and rare moment of vulnerability from a stoic and arrogant character without a cliche TV catharatic crying moment.
I thought one of the more powerful moments in that arc was when Craig refused the umbrella as he and his wife walked to the grave site in the pouring rain. I always saw that as part of his self-imposed penance for not seeing how much help his son needed (or seeing it and refusing to give it).
I think the reason you’re confused is that when Erlich got married the first time (the bitchy greek was his second wife), he held the wedding at the Craigs home. IIRC, nurse Rosenthal suggested it. Typically it was a huge disaster - Just moments before the ceremony, the bride’s mother blurted out to her daughter that she never loved her father, prompting the bride to lock herself in the bedroom for hours in a panicking cold feet state. Meanwhile, everyone became sick from eating the hors-d’oeuvres that Erlich’s aunt cooked and ended up in the hospital E.R. Erlich & his bride were forced to tie the knot in the E.R. because even the pastor got sick.
Maybe that was it. Maybe I was remembering Ehrlich’s conversations with Dr. Craig in the leadup to the first wedding (at one point, he asked Craig if there was a minimum annual income to be an Episcopalian).
wasn’t the whole thing an autistic kid’s fantasy?
Well, yes, according to the very last scene of the very last episode.