they dont need to be smart
make them dumb
make everything dumb immediately
So y'all do without streaming then? What do you watch?
@dangoodin @MisterMoo @SarraceniaWilds DVDs and Blu-Rays, VHS tapes and LaserDiscs. Or build a Plex or Jellyfin server and make a Kodi or OSMC box, connect the two, and build your own library.
Need media? Reject modernity; embrace tradition! 
@LambdaCalculus @MisterMoo @SarraceniaWilds
So many things wrong with what y'all are advising:
Do you use debit cards? if so, marketers are scooping up tons more data than from your purchases than they are from streaming.
Telling folks that the only way they can be safe on online is to do with without major platforms that provide tons more viewing choices is not a good way to go. It makes security unnecessarily hard and depriving.
There was a time when DVDs and completely booked the traditional means. Shaming people for using smart TVs is unnecessarily alarmist and not at all constructive.
@dangoodin @LambdaCalculus @MisterMoo @SarraceniaWilds
Why would anyone trust that the settings being exposed with switches to toggle are sufficient to protect their privacy when the switches are being provided by the data harvesters?
Safer to bypass the switches and use another device, preferably one you can customize more completely, and allow, as the OP requested, to just use a dumb screen as a screen.
Streaming doesn't even enter into the equation, there are many ways to enjoy media without the streaming cable-replacements.