Like most other things people ask about on this forum, the first question you need to address is what do you intend to use it for? Or more specifically, what signal source are you expecting to use, and what kind of programming do you anticipate watching.
There are basically four choices (and maybe a few oddballs that are only available in a few areas) - an antenna (for old-fashioned over-the-air broadcasting), a cable TV service, or streaming. The fourth option is direct satellite service which, to my mind, is just cable TV in disguise.
If you are fortunate to live in a area with multiple over-the-air TV stations, antennas do still work. Probably not rabbit ears or those aluminum monstrosities our parents stuck on the roof of the house. Today, TV antenna can be installed in an attic or attached to a wall or window. But to be totally honest, I haven't used an antenna in 30+ years, so I can't offer any advise about them.
Cable is still an option, but my sense is that the cable TV industry is fading away. I do know that the company who supplies that service in our area is exhorbitantly expensive and their service is lousy.
That leaves streaming, but to do that you need a connection to the internet. At least in our case, that brings us back to the company who also provides cable TV service. Yuck.
We have gravitated toward streaming. We have internet service (only) from that cable TV monopoly. We never watch commercial TV entertainment programming. We do watch the local news stream from a TV station in our area, and we are members of the local PBS station which gives us access to the PBS streaming service for both national/international news and programming. We have subscriptions to Netflix and Britbox for entertainment programming. But that's us. YMMV
My experience with modern TVs is that they are considerably less expensive than older TVs, especially on a $/diagonal inch basis. The visual quality is very good, but the sound isn't great. You can always add a supplementary sound system if you find that you want that booming base you experience in movie theaters. When looking at the selection in the store, the one (and perhaps only) differentiator is price, but I'm not sure that means much. Modern TVs really aren't designed to be repaired, and while they may last a long time, our cultural expectation is that we will upgrade periodically. I look for a minimum of two HDMI ports - the cable connections to a TV are the points that get the most physical stress and therefore most subject to wear and tear, and having redundant input port can extend the life expectancy of a TV. Most larger TVs have ate least two ports, but there are smaller TVs out there with just one.
Modern TVs are essentially computers, and an invisible differentiation between brands is their operating systems. Be especially cautious about TVs with proprietary operating systems - they may not be compatible with the streaming services you want to use. My experience is that Samsung and Roku-branded TVs are generally compatible with most streaming services, while LG is an orphan that doesn't play well with others. You can always add an external streaming device (eg, a Roku, Firestick, etc), if the TV you select proves to be unfriendly with your preferred streaming services.
Final thought - its entirely too easy to get drawn into modern TV technology and end up with something that is too complex for an ordinary human to use. In my opinion, the best solution is one that you can operate your entire TV viewing system using one remote, and if you need more than one remote for anything other than perhaps a periodic software update, you've gone too far.
