Hm, I actually see this as an advantage of these alternative frontends since there is far less incentive to be pulled down some rabbit hole. Without recommendations and autoplay the thing just plays the video you point it at and stops without trying to entice you to stay just a bit longer [1].

[1] ...cue audio from that ancient C64 game: Another visitor, stay a while, stay FOREVER... https://www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/Impossible_Mission