When did viewers embrace shorter TV seasons?

TVLine

"As recently as 10 years ago, it was almost unheard of — and certainly atypical — for a TV show to deliver fewer than 22 episodes in a season," says Matt Webb Mitovich. "But now? People seem to be OK with, if not outright embracing, markedly shorter seasons. Is that because there is so much TV to consume, or because we value, as the saying goes, 'Quality over quantity'? Why is less now more?" Mitovich adds: "In the past year or so, we seem to have entered a new phase of acceptance. A phase where Lucifer being 'saved' with just 10 episodes ultimately proves to be heavenly. Where, regardless your opinion of the outcome, Veronica Mars‘ eight-episode rival proved perfectly bingeable. We waited a small eternity for the third batch of Stranger Things, and yet its eight-episode length was no less than satisfying — and not a casualty of the infamous 'Netflix bloat' that tended to make the streamer’s Marvel shows a slog."