Are they staples or just pin nails/brads? If they're the pin nails, a little force will pull the paneling/trim clear off with minimal damage (tiny practically invisible holes) and leave the pins behind, where they can be removed with pliers or vice grips. Staples might leave a little more damage, but should more or less pull out with a little careful force and without making a huge mess. Worse case would be that you need to create a new trim panel to put in place.
Before doing that, I'd investigate the base mount for the TV a little more thoroughly. Is it possible that there's some top piece that snaps in position or slides off or something? If you don't care about saving it, can you maybe destroy the TV mount without hurting the shelf using e.g. a rotary tool or (carefully) a sawzall type tool?