A combination of this…
and this…
I really don’t over think it 
. Maybe when I’m retired I’ll get more systematic, but I doubt it. There’s plenty of really good to moderately passable TV out there and I’m pretty much fine with all of it. I don’t really prioritize the one over the other. There is an awful lot I dip my toes in then move on nomadically, sometimes circling back, sometimes not.
While that makes sense, Roku does just that. On the What To Watch section, it’ll have a list of shows I’ve recently watched and if I click on one, it’ll take me to the most recent/next episode. It’s hit or miss if it actually goes to the correct one (or just dumps me on the app’s home page), but that’s a separate issue. Also, if the issue is that the streaming services want me to land on their home page, that’s fine with me. For me, it’s about knowing there’s a new episode out instead of forgetting about a show for a month and then trying to get caught back up. I can say with certainty, I watch less Netflix/Hulu because of this.
Netflix pulled from the streaming services just fine. From the user’s POV, the only real difference between watching something saved on the hard drive and watching something streaming was that streaming shows took a bit longer to load. But other than that, it was the same. New episodes of a streaming show would show up at the top of the list just like new episodes of something you recorded. You could play
As for a TV channel making itself unavailable…yes and no. No, a specific channel wouldn’t be able to do that without cooperation from Tivo. However, cable companies were making it harder and harder for Tivos to work at all. To use the Tivo as a cable box, you need a Cable Card and Tuning Adapter. Their cable cards and tuning adapters were, garbage, hard to get a hold of, the techs weren’t trained on them* and often the people at the stores didn’t even know what they were. The cable companies were deliberately making them difficult to work with in an attempt to get people to use their DVRs…
*cable problems at my house that involved cable cards often resulted in 2 or 3 techs showing up as they would call each other trying to find someone that understood them.
If I see something that looks interesting, I look at justwatch.com to see where it’s available in my area.
If it’s on Netflix, Apple or Disney+, I add it to the watch list. If it’s Prime or Sky, I’m out of luck.
Ever so often I’ll go back and search for something I’d like to see, such as Barbie, to see if it’s included (still not).
We usually have 1-2 series going at a time, and then we’ll pick out a movie from one one the watch lists, depending on the mood. There are some things which have been languishing on the watch list since we got Netflix, and we’ll probably watch everything.
And, after reading the article linked above, I just learned that Justwatch could be managing all my watch lists. Should investigate.
You can always go back…
Apparently TiVo will find pull together your favorite streaming and tv shows in one place.