Showing the display bars with a remote only sort of makes sense, because they aren't designed to be used with a keyboard / mouse. Jumping into Theater View's Playing Now may be better for these cases.
I want to be able to see it because of the information it provides, not to actually use it (for that I would grab the mouse).
For example, quickly pulling it up tells me:
1. What video file is currently playing (episode number and name, etc).
2. What level my volume is set to.
3. How far along I am in the currently playing video, and how much is left.
I also can use my FF and RW keys on the remote, and the volume up/down keys, to modify some of the things shown on the interface.
In this way, it is very similar to the "Info" button on TiVO, BeyondTV, or DirecTV (except for those actually usually also provide a short description of the currently playing show). Either way, it's very useful just to LOOK at, even if you need to grab the mouse to use it much. And, all of this I can do without stopping watching the movie/show/whatever for even a split second.