"The Golden Girls" has been rerun so often on so many channels that the chronology is a little foggy, to say the least, and so it's easy not to notice the fact that it's only in the show's pilot that she says she's from Queens. (The pilot episode is the one produced for the network as proof of a concept. If the network likes it, it typically orders a whole season.)

That timing means the network can ask for alterations to the show's formula, but the changes are usually small enough that the network figures it can get away with airing the existing pilot and continuing the story from there with the minor tweaks in place. Dorothy's hometown was one of those tweaks.

NBC switched it from Queens to Brooklyn, presumably hoping viewers wouldn't notice, and few have (so kudos to you and your sharp ears).

The network execs never offered an explanation for why they asked for the change, however. Did they figure Brooklyn was more famous than Queens in the rest of America? (They certainly weren't thinking of the international audience at this point, even though the show would soon become a global hit.) Maybe they thought Brooklyn seemed more Italian (Dorothy's Italian heritage was a huge part of her character) or that its streets just seemed a little meaner (Dorothy was the tough city girl of the group, and Brooklyn had a tougher reputation at the time).

We may never know.

It's also not the only change that was made after the pilot. Most notably, the first episode included a whole other central character — a flamboyantly gay cook named Coco, who had disappeared without a trace by the next episode.

Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. Personal replies will not be provided.