It's more simple than that, I think. The Thermians possessed advanced technology, but lacked understanding of effective application to defend themselves. They were facing certain extinction at the hands of the villain, Sarris. Mathesar said himself, they had seen such evil deception used by Sarris against them, a concept which they "are only now beginning to learn at some great cost". Their extermination. Mathesar is told by Nesmith of the "deception" that is the TV show, which saddens him. Later, after they have destroyed the enemy ship, Mathesar "understands" the concept of deception Nesmith was referring was not the TV show, but the ruse Nesmith ran for Sarris' benefit, even acknowledging the reference to the tiny size of the actual/original ship used for the TV show was a deception for Sarris' benefit, finding the deception and outcome to be humorous. Being aware of a concept is far from understanding it. Sarris said it best, "explain, as you would a child."
This brings us to the Thermian's reason for recreating everything GQ. It is reasonable to believe they had access to everything "TV Land". They, of course, viewed all of it as a form of documentary. While they had no understanding of the concept of entertainment and acting, they were able to disregard anything that didn't make sense to them. They were facing impending doom. They were to become extinct, at the hands of Sarris. They saw, in the TV programming, a solution to defend themselves, in the GQ shows; A solution their technology could support, and appeared sufficient to defeat Sarris. It was their motive that drove them to believe so strongly in GQ, while disregarding anything remotely contrary. It is likely they studied and ingrained the shows for a very long time, at least to them (who knows what is their lifespan, or the lengths of their technology). GQ being "unreal", would simply mean their extinction, as that was the only solution they had. Not believing meant their extinction, therefore, not believing was not an option they were willing to entertain. The only times they seemed or said they were "confused", was when faced with the reality of GQ. They accepted not understanding some things, so everything did not require rationalization. Cartoons were probably a good example of "file that under not understood, and move on". Or, it may simply mean they couldn't find 'Marvin the Martian', or some other space-traveling force, but they could find the characters of GQ. We are unaware of what took place in any of the GQ episodes (except one part of #81). It is possible/probable The Protector was destroyed in the last episode. This could explain the Thermians recreating everything, instead of just showing up and saying, "We need you and your ship...." Something made them believe they needed to recreate the ship, before recruiting the crew.
There are no "plot holes" in sci-fi. Only subsequent episodes, sequels, prequels and parallels.
Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid.
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