When Wesley says he was kicked out of school, Billy asks (sarcastically) if he "burned the place down," an obvious nod to the first miniseries when Nick Nolte had to leave town for burning down the greenhouse.
John Finnegan, who plays the political reporter, played a blue collar warehouse manager in the first miniseries.
Topo Swope, who plays Falconetti's prostitute Collie, is the daughter of Dorothy McGuire, who played Peter Strauss and Nick Nolte's mom in the original miniseries.