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To be honest your examples were aired on TV some time ago where the normal season was 24 episodes (about 40-45 min long for seasons like Lost) and a half season 10 or 12.

Most of the new shows are between 8 and 12 episodes about an hour long.

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I think you just stopped watching as many major network shows, as a quick look at NBC's current lineup still shows 15+ episode seasons is the norm.

but shorter due to commercial breaks.

I can't find any links for this off-hand, but I think the last time commercial time was increased was in the 1980s.

"One-hour" shows have been 42 minutes long on US TV for decades now.

I recall it changing when Star Trek: Voyager was on the air -- at least for Voyager.

Looking at Amazon Prime, seems the episode length changed from 46 minutes to 44 minutes going from Season 5 (1999) to Season 6 (2000).

(What I was remembering was 47 to 45, but this is a vague memory of a Usenet post I read twenty years ago.)

EDIT: Also, I should note that Voyager was on Fox. If you're talking about NBC specifically, I have no data.

Good point, it's likely different for different networks.

Voyager was on UPN. Maybe in some areas where there was no UPN station, the local Fox station picked it up.

Ah, you're right. I forgot UPN even existed. Thanks.

Most of them can be mass produced, like the usual crime story nonsense.

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