IMHO long ago pacing was better. You had 20-24 episodes with a pause mid season. Airing date would start in october and ends in april/may or something like that. You didn’t have to wait more than 8 months to get next season.

Nowadays what would be ideal in my point of view would be :

• 8 to 12 episodes to allow for more development
• release each weeks and not all at once (thankfully a lot of network still do that) so you can reflect and discuss about episodes. It makes tv shows more memorable. Back then it was nice when lost aired each week and you had plenty of theories flying around!
• pretend season 1 and 2 are actually season 1 part 1 and 2 if it doesn’t ends with first part. Release second part something like 3-4 months instead of at best a year later.
• if show works and network is up to another season decide it before part 1 ends so there is a 10–12 months maximum wait after part 2 ends.

Yes basically not a lot different as before!
But Sadly it’s unlikely as doing small season minimize risks if shows is not working.