Moral of the story: TSA will open containers for no apparent reason. I can't imagine their fancy CT machine couldn't discern that my TV was in fact a TV,
Nope -- a CTX evaluates objects based on their density, and a TV almost certainly would alarm. If there are no TSOs available to resolve the alarm based on the image, or the image is ambiguous, a bag search would be necessary.
Whether the OP's box is opened depends on 1) the inspection protocol used at the airport from which he ships the object, and 2) the contents.