The gaps are definitely too long. Waiting nearly a full year to resolve a cliffhanger sucks. If they had cut all the gaps in half, it would have been much better. Or just stick to a normal TV schedule of starting in the fall, taking a few weeks off in winter, finishing in the spring, and then continuing the next season in fall again.
BSG had a neat premise and I'm glad that they're not trying to do the whole Star Trek reset button thing, instead focusing on a compelling story arc, but they have been dragging it out anyway. Since they can't use as many filler episodes as Trek, they just take time off. Lame.
And yes, season 3, especially the second half, was super lame. First half of season 4 was pretty bad too, IMO. There's been too much emo shit involving Starbuck. She needs to shut up.