[Dumyat]

Is there a way to have kodi show tv channel instead of playlists?
when on the home screen of my Shield, I'd really like to see preferred TV channels there.

Nope, no way to do this with Live TV Channels.
Best options available on Live TV Home Screen:-
1) Recently Played Channels are displayed which I guess could well be your most preferred TV channels.
2) Goto system>>>PVR & Live>>>General>>>Group Manager. There you can create a favourites Channel Group and add channel(s) to this group. Channel Groups are shown on Live TV Home Screen and will open guide guide screen for specific channel groups when selected.