Your Smart TV Is Only Going to Get Dumber

Connected TVs, expensive and huge, are like cars depreciating as they drive off the lot, but it doesn’t have to be that way

My two-year-old TV is great. I love it. Big fan. The 48-inch, 4K screen bathes me in its warm glow every time I sit down for another NFL Sunday marathon.

Like so many other sets sold in the past few years, my TV is “smart.” It has an app store, and a full keyboard on one side of the remote for when I have to enter my password. It’s an appealing idea: I’d love to do everything with one remote. But the first thing I do every time I turn on my TV is switch to my Roku Ultra and pick up its remote—because my supposedly smart TV...