diff --git a/template/template_test.go b/template/template_test.go
index 08b902410..647cb5389 100644
--- a/template/template_test.go
+++ b/template/template_test.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/prometheus/common/model"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 	"golang.org/x/net/context"
 
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/pkg/labels"
@@ -209,8 +210,13 @@ func TestTemplateExpansion(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("get appender: %s", err)
 	}
 
-	app.Add(labels.FromStrings(labels.MetricName, "metric", "instance", "a"), 0, 11)
-	app.Add(labels.FromStrings(labels.MetricName, "metric", "instance", "b"), 0, 21)
+	aref, err := app.SetSeries(labels.FromStrings(labels.MetricName, "metric", "instance", "a"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	bref, err := app.SetSeries(labels.FromStrings(labels.MetricName, "metric", "instance", "b"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	app.Add(aref, 0, 11)
+	app.Add(bref, 0, 21)
 
 	if err := app.Commit(); err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("commit samples: %s", err)
diff --git a/web/api/v1/api.go b/web/api/v1/api.go
index de5610b4b..de3eeb58d 100644
--- a/web/api/v1/api.go
+++ b/web/api/v1/api.go
@@ -258,6 +258,11 @@ func (api *API) labelValues(r *http.Request) (interface{}, *apiError) {
 	return vals, nil
 }
 
+var (
+	minTime = time.Unix(math.MinInt64/1000+62135596801, 0)
+	maxTime = time.Unix(math.MaxInt64/1000-62135596801, 999999999)
+)
+
 func (api *API) series(r *http.Request) (interface{}, *apiError) {
 	r.ParseForm()
 	if len(r.Form["match[]"]) == 0 {
@@ -272,7 +277,7 @@ func (api *API) series(r *http.Request) (interface{}, *apiError) {
 			return nil, &apiError{errorBadData, err}
 		}
 	} else {
-		start = time.Unix(math.MinInt64, 0)
+		start = minTime
 	}
 
 	var end time.Time
@@ -283,8 +288,9 @@ func (api *API) series(r *http.Request) (interface{}, *apiError) {
 			return nil, &apiError{errorBadData, err}
 		}
 	} else {
-		end = time.Unix(math.MaxInt64, 0)
+		end = maxTime
 	}
+	fmt.Println("q range", timestamp.FromTime(start), timestamp.FromTime(end), r.FormValue("start"), r.FormValue("end"))
 
 	var matcherSets [][]*labels.Matcher
 	for _, s := range r.Form["match[]"] {
diff --git a/web/api/v1/api_test.go b/web/api/v1/api_test.go
index 86fb5ab28..490f649d2 100644
--- a/web/api/v1/api_test.go
+++ b/web/api/v1/api_test.go
@@ -429,6 +429,7 @@ func TestEndpoints(t *testing.T) {
 		api.context = func(r *http.Request) context.Context {
 			return ctx
 		}
+		t.Logf("run query %q", test.query.Encode())
 
 		req, err := http.NewRequest("ANY", fmt.Sprintf("http://example.com?%s", test.query.Encode()), nil)
 		if err != nil {