What's the problem with having a smart TV but simply never using the smart functions? Mine works perfectly, once in a quarter shows some pup-up that I dismiss and that's it.
BTW I needed to connect it to local network because the remote has no button for changing brightness, so I do that from my PC.
often they have cellular chips and may simply be privacy pests.
I’ve heard this but I’ve never actually heard of any popular brand of TV that integrates cellular. I keep my LG and Sony TVs off the network and I’m 99.9% sure they have no way of accessing the Internet.