Apologies for the simplicity of this hint, but after years of adjusting each new iTunes playlist to a preferred view option (I like Kind for reference), I just noticed that setting the Library's view options (View -> View Options, or Command-J) creates the default template view options for any future playlist.
So simple and logical; hope I save someone else the forehead Doh! slap...
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20060921202813754