Index: views_handler_field.inc
===================================================================
--- views_handler_field.inc	(revision 266)
+++ views_handler_field.inc	(working copy)
@@ -465,6 +465,13 @@
               );
           }
 
+          if (!is_array($item))
+          {
+              $item = array(
+                'alter_text' => $item,
+                'text' => $item,
+              );
+          }
           $alter = $item + $this->options['alter'];
           $items[] = $this->render_text($alter);
         }