By 
17 Jan – TVB's "Friendly Fire" has been trying to gain ratings through crude scenes, including Samantha Ko's rape scene and Alice Chan's seduction scenes. However, the decision only further worsened the drama's ratings and was dubbed as "tasteless and crude".
According to Popular Asians website, ratings for the 26-episode drama have dropped one point from 27 to 26 last week, and the drama has received various criticisms along the way, especially regarding its countless attempts to use sex to gain viewership.
In response to the criticisms, producer Man Wai Hung said, "Throughout the 20 episodes or so, we showed numerous sexy scenes, yet so much attention is given to the rape scene. As people kept talking about it, in the end, the show has become nothing but that, although in actual fact, the rape was implicit and we did not show much."
Man Wai Hung also defended the mentioned scenes, saying that it is used as "a prelude to the turmoil between the characters".
"The main story behind the rape scene is very true to real life. There are indeed people who would resort to all means to get what they want, yet it is the uphill task of a prosecutor to bring these criminals down legally. We hope that viewers are able to get the main gist of this plot," the producer concluded.
In related news, "Friendly Fire" will be ending its run with a 2-hour finale on 19 January.
