In the month of Dashiell Hammett's death, January 1961, John Crosby observed in the New York Herald Tribune that the television air was full of imitation Sam Spades: "As a matter of fact, they are imitations of imitation Sam Spades: the 77 Sunset Strip and the rest of them are now distilled by a whole batch of Hollywood hacks who have never been inside a police station. The stuff is turned out like salt-water taffy now, rather sexy and violent stuff, but nevertheless as commercial as anything sold at Atlantic City. Only the corruption remains; the talent has long since fled."