Of course. I did the same thing until my OCD got the better of me and I got an AndroidTV device with a custom launcher, as well as an AppleTV4K. I love having no ads and no blank spaces now.
From what I gather, making your own little "media PC" connected to a "dumb TV" or never-connected "smart PC" can give you a similar if not better experience!
KDE has a big TV style desktop environment they've made for TVs now, and you can use KDE connect to use any phone as a remote control.
If it’s a Google TV you can always install a custom launcher and even disable the stock launcher via ADB and never be bothered by any of the curated bullshit again