You can fix this. Somewhere in your account preferences UI should be a streaming option (maybe with an innocuous name such as "manual") that provides this one key benefit of the DVD-by-mail experience. You don't need to promote this option (other communities can do that for you), and you can make it extremely unlikely to be enabled accidentally. You should have time for design and implementation before Mental Health Awareness Month (May of each year).
For example: when the customer initially selects manual, the screen could say "We get it! Netflix will not show anything about an item (such as a movie or TV show) unless you have entered its title." You'd need a reasonable similarity algorithm (e.g., "13 season bachelorette" matches "The Bachelorette Season 13" but doesn't match "13 Reasons Why"). It's OK for the UI to ask occasionally about moving away from the manual option (e.g., "Should Netflix suggest any movies or TV shows for you?").