"My So-Called Life" was produced before the explosion of youth and teen programming. The culture of television changed significantly in the years that immediately followed, most notably with the rise of The WB and UPN, networks that eventually catered to the teenaged audience "My So-Called Life" sought, in the late 1990s and early 2000s (decade) (The WB and UPN launched just two weeks and one week respectively before "My So-Called Life"s run on ABC ended). Holzman never intended the show to be exclusively for teens. In the end, not enough viewers of any age were watching the show during its initial network run. ABC was more focused on larger ratings numbers and wider demographics. Holzman said, "It is one thing to have huge ratings, but it is quite another to have smaller ratings but with an extremely passionate following. I don't understand why the network did not understand that."