You know you watch too much TV when...

You can name the design icons featured in a series. And give their provenance.

One of my favorite chairs, for example, appears on CSI, NCIS and other procedurals. More popularly known as the Navy chair, Emeco’s 1006 was originally designed in 1944 by the company’s founder Witton Dinges for the US Navy. Handcrafted out of recycled aluminum, it was lightweight yet incredibly durable, perfect for use in submarines. We met current chairman and CEO Gregg Buchbinder when he was in Singapore last month – on his watch, the recycled aluminum chair was iterated in colored plastic extruded from recycled soda bottles (a collaboration with Coca-cola).

Another iconic mid-century modern design that made its way to television was Eero Saarinen’s Tulip chair, which appeared in the original Star Trek series.

The Tulip stools and the pedestal table also made their way into hit TV series Mad Men: Roger Sterling’s office in particular (of course, Mad Men shouldn’t really count, being set in that period). Roger’s mod office was considered forward-thinking, and too hip. Hence the futuristic Saarinen, I guess.

This blog Ecosalon lists everything, including the Nesso table lamp by Giancarlo Mattioli from Artemide, inside Roger’s office.

And then there’s Once Upon A Time, where the mayor/evil queen’s home-office looks like a Barbara Barry setting gone goth. I thought the wallpaper was Woods by Cole & Son, but this blog says it’s Seabrook. Close enough. I’m certain the oval-back chairs are not Barbara Barry, but then again this modernized Louis pendant chair is produced by many brands.

I can’t say for sure because the cantilevered chair is also commonly manufactured, but Harvey Specter’s office in Suits seems to have Mies Van Der Rohe’s BRNO chair (see Mike Ross sitting on one?). There’s a Saarinen side table there, too.

Speaking of Mies Van Der Rohe, I once saw a pair of Barcelona chairs in CSI Catherine Willows’ office. It costs over SGD5,000 now, so I don’t know how they could afford to furnish a civil servant’s office with a pair…unless those were originals stuck there from the mid-1900s…or those were fakes. Or Catherine finally used some of her casino-mogul-bastard-father’s money. And yeah, yeah, that’s TV, where the improbable is possible.