My current Samsung TV is pretty good and is still not very "smart". If/when I'll change it, I will definitely consider buying a monitor with no software except image settings. Yes they are more expensive than TV sets - for reasons exposed in this thread, and the fact they target a different market - but this will be the price for avoiding all the crap. The playing videos, receiving TV channels or satellite, etc, can be done with external devices that embed no crap either.
Yes, this is a more expensive option. But very large TV sets have become "dirt cheap" for what they are. Maybe it's time to get back to reality, instead of just letting things drift towards privacy invasion, surveillance, non-sustainable production, and so on. Oh and devices that end up with more bugs than my garden. No thanks =)