I use orion on Mac and it works well 99% of the time.

I agree with you somewhat, but I’ll just say in my opinion, it wasn’t as disruptive to my watching.

I never read the books, but I greatly enjoy the show. I think a lot of the people who don’t like it are being boring

I was in the same boat as you. It doesn’t sit right with me having all the smart stuff enabled even if I’m not using it. There’s plenty of concerns there. I ended up getting a smart tv, using an Apple TV plugged into it, and turning off the WiFi on the tv itself. When I want to update it, I can. Otherwise, you can look for TVs marketed towards businesses. Like the ones that get hung up to display menus and stuff. That was the only avenue I found where the smart stuff wasn’t baked in. They’re expensive though.