Final Cut Pro wonky

suddenly the playback doesn't respond and it seems wonky.

I think one of the reasons for the unstable operation is that you are editing FCP while many applications are running.

• Restart your Mac and clear the memory cache.
• Start only FCP and edit.
• Throw away the contents of the trash can.

Could it be my preferences are off?

How did you reset it? option+⌘?

Spot on! Plus all those panes open in FCP itself will bog down the app. How can you work with so many FCP panes open at once? But yes, as Alicia said, close all those unnecessary apps! Apple TV, Music, whatever that red icon is, close them all up. How much RAM do you have installed? FCP and Motion both open at once is a load on a Mac by themselves. Keep everything else closed. Good call, Alicia! All those photos were confusing me.

Don't delete Apple TV, just close the app. Close all the open apps and only open FCP.

What does Apple TV have to do with the current issue?

You can quit Apple TV. If it is not responding, press Command-Option-Escape, select it in the list and click Force Quit.

You cannot remove the application, or any other that is distributed with macOS. They are in a sealed read only volume. Just don't use it.