diff --git a/pkg/runtime/helper.go b/pkg/runtime/helper.go
index aba69f3cb5..3f3427fd08 100644
--- a/pkg/runtime/helper.go
+++ b/pkg/runtime/helper.go
@@ -83,6 +83,9 @@ func ExtractList(obj Object) ([]Object, error) {
 	return list, nil
 }
 
+// objectSliceType is the type of a slice of Objects
+var objectSliceType = reflect.TypeOf([]Object{})
+
 // SetList sets the given list object's Items member have the elements given in
 // objects.
 // Returns an error if list is not a List type (does not have an Items member),
@@ -96,6 +99,10 @@ func SetList(list Object, objects []Object) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+	if items.Type() == objectSliceType {
+		items.Set(reflect.ValueOf(objects))
+		return nil
+	}
 	slice := reflect.MakeSlice(items.Type(), len(objects), len(objects))
 	for i := range objects {
 		dest := slice.Index(i)
diff --git a/pkg/runtime/helper_test.go b/pkg/runtime/helper_test.go
index 62984c3413..d0238a9ab5 100644
--- a/pkg/runtime/helper_test.go
+++ b/pkg/runtime/helper_test.go
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/api"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/runtime"
+	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/util"
 
 	"github.com/google/gofuzz"
 )
@@ -152,6 +153,27 @@ func TestSetList(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestSetListToRuntimeObjectArray(t *testing.T) {
+	pl := &api.List{}
+	list := []runtime.Object{
+		&api.Pod{ObjectMeta: api.ObjectMeta{Name: "1"}},
+		&api.Pod{ObjectMeta: api.ObjectMeta{Name: "2"}},
+		&api.Pod{ObjectMeta: api.ObjectMeta{Name: "3"}},
+	}
+	err := runtime.SetList(pl, list)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Unexpected error %v", err)
+	}
+	if e, a := len(list), len(pl.Items); e != a {
+		t.Fatalf("Expected %v, got %v", e, a)
+	}
+	for i := range list {
+		if e, a := list[i], pl.Items[i]; e != a {
+			t.Fatalf("%d: unmatched: %s", i, util.ObjectDiff(e, a))
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func TestSetExtractListRoundTrip(t *testing.T) {
 	fuzzer := fuzz.New().NilChance(0).NumElements(1, 5)
 	for i := 0; i < 5; i++ {