10 4th Wall Breaking TV Show Moments Everyone Hated

Even CSI's biggest fans surely won't pretend it to be high-art - it's a card-carrying procedural series in which a group of witty, good-looking folk solve crimes, while offering viewers unchallenging entertainment after a long, hard day at the office. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Yet the show did cheekily tip its hat to audiences on one occasion and acknowledge the very vapid TV legacy it created - that is, the "CSI effect."

CSI's enormous success led to a bevy of imitation forensic shows of varying quality, including Bones, Cold Case, Criminal Minds, Crossing Jordan, NCIS, and so on, enough that by the mid-2000s, many began to complain about an excess of this type of programming in lieu of more adventurous and creative shows.

And CSI nodded to the pivotal role it played in this in season six's "I Like to Watch." 

In this episode, the CSI team finds themselves followed by a documentary camera crew, prompting Grissom (William Petersen) to grumpily quip, "There's too many forensics shows on TV."

Yes, a dull trend this show itself is responsible for. So, er, thanks for that.