Surge protectors do not reliably protect against a direct lightning strike hitting your house or the power line feeding it. The energy in a direct strike (often billions of joules) vastly exceeds what even high‑joule plug‑in strip or whole‑house surge protectors are designed to handle, so they can be destroyed and still let damaging current through to your TV and other electronics.
What surge protectors can and cannot do
Surge protectors are effective for ordinary power‑line surges (switching spikes, grid fluctuations, small nearby strikes on distant lines) by clamping voltage and diverting excess energy to ground. They can significantly reduce the risk of damage from indirect or distant lightning‑induced surges, but they are not a substitute for proper lightning‑protection systems.
For direct lightning hits, the only meaningful protection is a dedicated lightning‑rod system (air terminals, down conductors, and proper grounding) combined with whole‑house surge protection at the main panel. Even then, the safest habit for a TV or delicate electronics is to unplug both power and signal cables during thunderstorms, since no surge device can guarantee 100% protection against extreme lightning energy