diff --git a/packages/grafana-ui/src/types/data.ts b/packages/grafana-ui/src/types/data.ts
index d8d67809ed8..992e11690d5 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-ui/src/types/data.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-ui/src/types/data.ts
@@ -51,9 +51,9 @@ export enum NullValueMode {
 export type TimeSeriesVMs = TimeSeriesVM[];
 
 export interface Column {
-  text: string; // name
-  type?: 'time' | 'number' | 'string' | 'object';
-  filterable?: boolean;
+  text: string; // The column name
+  type?: 'time' | 'number' | 'string' | 'object'; // not used anywhere? can we remove?
+  filterable?: boolean; // currently only set by elasticsearch, and used in the table panel
   unit?: string;
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/grafana-ui/src/utils/processTableData.ts b/packages/grafana-ui/src/utils/processTableData.ts
index 9f81635da20..d4a91efd622 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-ui/src/utils/processTableData.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-ui/src/utils/processTableData.ts
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ function convertTimeSeriesToTableData(timeSeries: TimeSeries): TableData {
       {
         text: 'Time',
         type: 'time',
+        unit: 'dateTimeAsIso',
       },
     ],
     rows: timeSeries.datapoints,