there is a settin already on the podcast subscription:
show no more than X most recent episodes that are not downloaded
This feature was discussed long ago at
http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=5048.0 and I definitely remember using this feature to be able to just see actual downloaded podcasts instead of every episode in the feed. Was this setting removed at some point in recent versions? Or is it still there (right in front of my face) and I'm just looking past it?
One other feature I would love to see is a way to see ALL downloaded podcasts in the Podcast view instead of only by subscription. To get around having to click from subscription to subscription I have created an auto playlist to show all my podcasts but one feature that disappears viewing them this way is the ability to right click and "Mark as Listened". That option only seems to appear in the Podcast view.