Honestly, webOS is not a bad platform, and developing for it is not even a terrible experience (you basically build a website plus a thin shim to make it appear as an "app"); what holds it back is just the braindead commercial mismanagement from LG - I had massive flashbacks from the Nokia/Maemo years, when looking into webOS app development.

Simple example: you can enable "Dev mode" to install your own apps into a tv, but it disables itself after two weeks or so, deleting all such apps. Why? Because fuck you, that's why! You have to talk to LG to get a "proper" app done, and that means submitting a presentation (I kid you not) to prove the app is "important" enough to warrant inclusion in their distribution channels. Despite all this, 99% of the apps they include are low-quality - the discriminating factor ends up being the willingness to deal with bureaucracy.

If LG fixed their app-development practices, they could easily turn webOS into "the Linux tv", onboarding tons of developers for free.