Next Generation was your favorite, and it had 24 episode seasons. Episode count and quality are not necessarily linked.
TNG was great, and the best episodes are incredible, but most episodes were fairly mediocre. I feel SNW's average is higher, and it's probably in part for having LESS than half the number of episodes per season.
I think they'd be fine with 12, maybe even 14, but beyond that I don't they could keep it as great as it's been.
@exscape @lucidinferno @BradleyUffner One need only look at the best British TV shows and how their seasons are shorter and their schedules are not yearly to see how time to work on scripts and production makes for great fiction, but that can't be exploited.
Exception: Sherlock - everything after the first season was an unwatchable cash grab …
@kamenLady Ah, but you'll notice I specified "the best British TV shows". 'Sherlock' always was Moffat and Gatiss thinking they were more clever than Conan Doyle.