How to stop iTunes from automatically downloading purchased TV shows?
Ultimately, I was able to stop iTunes from automatically downloading TV shows with the following steps:


With iTunes open select iTunes > Preferences... and click the Store tab
If checked, uncheck checkbox Always check for available downloads
If checked, uncheck checkbox Download pre-orders when available  
Click the OK button, and close iTunes
Remove the contents of your Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Downloads directory. You should be able to do that through Finder or by following these steps:

Open Applications > Utilities > Terminal.app
Type rm -rf ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes\ Media/Downloads/* then press &lt;Enter&gt;to delete the plist file along with all of the downloads of TV shows. (Note: this method removes the files permanently, which is fine since the next step re-downloads them.)

Re-open iTunes. There shouldn't be TV shows automatically downloading any longer when you open iTunes. Breath. Relax. Rejoice.