Besides filters, the visibility dot next to Events in the tree can also help. When the dot is showing, events always appear at the bottom of the dopesheet (unless filtered). When the dot is not showing, events are only shown at the bottom of the dopesheet 1) if all timelines are shown because nothing is selected, or 2) if the event is selected in the tree. Eg if you select some bones, you won't have the event timelines cluttering up your view.
That is in 4.3 anyway -- maybe 4.2 also, I don't remember exactly when we did this.
In 4.3 the dot next to Constraints does the same, but for global constraints timelines: sliders and global physics.
