I wonder...
while you're changing this, would it be easy/possible to tie the tree structure to the TheaterView structure. In other words, if they were mimics of one another, and I think TV should be a Main/Top level item, I'd like to change it in one place (tree), and have it reflected in the other (TheaterView). Or, change in TheaterView reflected in the tree, since I can't currently change the tree at this level.
I just figure if I want to structure my viewing a particular way, I usually want everything structured the same way, and this just keeps it in sync easier
It used to be this way.
It was changed because Theater Views are fundamentally a different kind of view. For example: the categories you want added and the filters you want applied may be "different" from how you want to organize views in Standard View (not to mention the Theater View specific configuration controls). Many users found the previous method
very constricting, including Matt (which means it is pretty much doomed).
If you search WAY back (I think this might have been MC14-ish?), there were some monumentally epic threads here discussing all of this before they made the change.
EDIT: I found it, it was changed very early in the process of MC13, with MC 13.0.21 on 08-15-2008 (while it was still a totally closed beta). I found one or two of the epic threads in question, but they are (still) in the beta forum so I can't link to them.
Here's one that was in the public forum though.
I was actually on your side back then. I thought the views were best configured within Standard View, because of the very point you made: The tree is an easier control to use. I lost. But, I must say, I've come around on this quite a bit. My Theater Views are very similar to many of my Standard Views. But the fact that they don't have to "match" perfectly is quite freeing. I add WAY more categories to my Standard Views now than I used to, because they don't have to "dual-purpose" as Theater Views. I don't need as many Standard Views, because they can serve multiple purposes with many different categories added.
While on the other hand, I keep my Theater Views simple, with a max of 2-3 "categories" added usually, to minimize the number of keypresses it takes to get where I want to go. For those, if I need a view with a different set of categories, I make a separate view specific to the need.
I do agree that the current configuration scheme for Theater View is a bit fiddly. I think the answer is to fix that. Matt actually mentioned that he agreed recently... (I believe he said "it isn't the thing I'm most proud of" or something to that effect). I proposed modifying the Items To Show section so that you can only add one "type" of view, and the way it works is determined either by its position in the hierarchy or by controls on the right-hand side (where you set everything else about the views).
I think that change alone would make it way better and less confusing to deal with. A bunch of other people agreed in that thread (I'm too lazy to search for it and it might have been in the beta forum).
EDIT: I got less lazy. It was on the beta board. Jim, wanna move nev's "Theater View and the Back key" thread over?