I have thoughts about the difference between the way Tenna asks to be given away in Chapter 4 vs. Chapter 5. The difference in wording and in the energy with which the lines are delivered.
In Chapter 4, he got really anxious in response to Susie noting that he's normally way bigger and (falsely) implied that the smaller form is actually his true one. And it was after getting anxious about his usual bigness being pointed out that he said "Please find someone to adopt me"; the lack of punctuation at the end to me reads like him saying it really quickly and nervously.
Tenna is one of the largest characters we've met, the only one who compares is Jackenstein. There are spaces where he has to shrink down to fit in even in his own home world (like the Green Room). He's also a large object in the Light World, one that takes up a lot of space and is unlikely to be kept around if it's not being used, and certainly not if the owners are going to get a new object to replace it; this exact scenario happened to him, where he was going to be thrown away to be replaced.
Throughout Chapter 3, he was leaning on his usefulness as an object and ability to entertain to justify why he deserved to survive (he was trying to get Lightners to watch TV again), rather than on himself having innate worth as a person - he may not necessarily believe the latter, certainly not strongly enough to argue from that point of view. At the end of Chapter 3, the option he was given for survival didn't really challenge this view of himself; he was told that someone else may want to watch TV, but not that he could just stay in Castle Town with the other Darkners. So, when he did come to Castle Town, he assumed he's only there temporarily, until the Lightners find him a new owner - ideally fast, because he takes up a lot of space. When Susie brought up his size, that fed into his fears that, if the Lightners couldn't find a new owner, they would throw him away.
By Chapter 5, I think his anxiety about being too big, and about the Lightners thus wanting to get rid of him as soon as possible, had subsided. The ceiling in his room is clearly higher now, allowing him to comfortably be at full size. He may have also seen Jackenstein being welcomed to Castle Town, another Darkner that is quite large. He probably understands now that the Lightners are likely going to keep him here if they don't find a new owner, hence the shift in tone.
In Chapter 4, when he thought his options were "new owner" or "death", he begged for the former, and did so in very loaded language, asking to be "adopted", like a pet or a child. In Chapter 5, when he likely started to recognize that his options are actually "new owner" or "Castle Town", he isn't as desperate to be given away - or even that enthusiastic, if he really thinks about it, hence why he loses energy at the end and tells Mike to turn off the cam. He's not even talking about a new "home", but rather just a "house" - a term that's similar, but not quite the same. It's a lot more technical, with significantly less emotional load than the idea of being "adopted"; it's just a new physical structure, rather than a place of comfort and belonging.
In truth, being useful wouldn't address his loneliness, and deep down he knows this; having work to do can distract him from his pain, but it won't fill the void left by the absence of actual emotional bonds with other Darkners. He knows what he's really missing, and it comes out when he's interacting with other Darkners rather than Lightners, like him making that Addison wear the Spamcannon on their head, or him finally breaking and opening up to Small Mike about how ever since Spamton left, everything has felt fake, and almost fully admitting that he feels like Spamton's disappearance was his fault. None of this would be addressed by him just becoming a useful object again, and being given away would actually make him even more lonely by separating him from all the Darkners he knows, some of whom (namely Pluey) we know he likes spending time with.
In both subtle and explicit ways, Deltarune has invited us to question whether serving their purpose is actually a good thing for Darkners, and whether it really is fulfilling to them, as Ralsei had claimed in Chapter 1. A glaring example of Darkners' usefulness not necessarily being a reliable source of happiness is Spamton, whose nature as spam mail inherently makes him unwanted and useless to Lightners; he's also the Darkner that outright tried to stop being a Darkner. Tenna claims to have been happy just serving his purpose, but if you pay attention, you'll notice that he clearly wishes to be something more than just a TV:
Tenna and Spamton are "intentionally similar characters who mutually enhance each other" (Toby's words, which are reflected in the writing). Tenna wants things beyond his purpose too. He wanted to be lifelong partners with Spamton and co-host with him, but Spamton was taken away from him. He wants to travel, but he's "just a big electric box attached to the wall", so he can't. He's used to never getting what he really wants, so he settles for bad options.
He wanted to stay in the Dreemurr Residence, which had been his home for many years, but that wasn't an option, so he settled for being given away as a means of survival. King laughed at his expense, but he's so desperate for validation that he accepted it as a positive. He wants to talk to and spend time with Mike, but in his absence settles for the impostor trio. In the Chapter 5 cutscene, he wanted to spend time with Pluey, but when Small Mike showed up, he settled for that and said he'd just close his eyes and imagine.
Darkners also seem to lean into serving Lightners more when they're lonely. If you recruited Cyber World Darkners, in Chapter 5, while Queen is happy about the possibility of Noelle coming to Castle Town, she won't actively ask for it and will be energetic and fun, playing sports in her room. If there are no cyber recruits, she will be depressed and lonely, sitting on the floor in her room, and in her dialogue on the first floor of the castle, she'll actively suggest bringing Noelle to Castle Town (though she'd also accept more cyber recruits). There was also Ramb in Chapter 3, who was lonely and never belonged in TV World, and who was fixated on the idea that he knew what Kris wanted and that he could give it to them; aside from Tenna (also lonely, plus at risk of being thrown away), he was the Darkner most invested in serving a Lightner.
Darkners feel more inclined towards serving Lightners when they're lonely and are seeking a way to fill that void. This is what's happening with Tenna, too. Being useful isn't a solution, but rather a way to run from his problems and continue to be in denial. And deep down, he knows being useful won't really help him. So once he understands that his survival doesn't depend on serving his purpose anymore, he's not so enthusiastic about the possibility of just being someone's TV again (especially since the new Lightner could eventually throw him away as well, just like the Dreemurrs had done).
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