On the one hand, broadcast TV typically had 20-26 episode seasons every year. On the other hand, this often included a lot of filler and could easily lead to huge compromises to get everything done. There will always be trade offs between quantity and quality, and only one of those is contractually obligated.

That being said, I really hate the way streaming has devolved into shows with 8 episodes or less in a season, with some of those episodes being significantly shorter than others, and all of them paced as though they have all the time in the world despite the season being over. That would be awful even if they did release seasons annually and never cancelled things early.

I feel like we figured out the perfect balance with Daredevil season 1. Thirteen really solid episodes, each being exactly as long as they need to be to tell the story they want, and all of them adding up to complete the arc for the season. I could nitpick and criticize some things, but the pacing was absolutely perfect.

I remember when people used to get so angry that TV shows had 20+ episodes, and were very insistent everything needs to be 13 or less, no fIlLeR! Now we're lucky if we get 10 episodes and 5 seasons. That's basically the equivalent of a long running show (11+ seasons) like Mash or the Big Bang Theory these days.

I don't entirely miss the days of old TV. But outside of what Apple's been putting out (so far they seem to be sticking with their shows; Pluribus and Severance would already be dead in the water on Netflix), it's become impossible to actually enjoy anything now. I loved Star Trek Lower Decks. People who love and hate Star Trek have told me how much they love it. It's a crime it doesn't have more seasons. And that's a long running show by today's standards! There's way too many shows like that now.