The acting is pretty good, actually. It's a top tier production, not some cheeseball "b" grade show. There's a lot of violence because the show is portraying violent historical occurences, such as the Mountain Meadow Massacre, where a group of Mormon "militia", disguised as Indians, in concert with real Paiute indians, slaughtered a group of Missouri settlers trying to cross Mormon territory. I'm sure there is dramatic license taken in places though.
Don't screw with Jim Bridger!