When Castle and Beckett are discussing the victim and Castle suggests that he wanted to keep the badge that he made his career on, Beckett tells him that the victim is too young to have ever had that badge. Castle asks her if she ever heard of Doogie Howser. Nathan Fillion and Neil Patrick Harris, who played the Doogie Howser when he was a teenager, starred in Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008).
The victim of the episode was a struggling actor who took part in a real estate scam, posing as a real estate mogul. Throughout the episode, the victim was mentioned studying Donald Trump's books, with the implication being that he had modeled his mogul persona on Trump.
Miss Lombardo, a woman that Castle and Beckett interview about the 'vic', lists three names from 'Jersey Shore' the reality show: Sammy, Paulie and Ronnie. Miss Lombardo is clearly from the Jersey shore herself.
Adriana DeMeo (Miss Lombardo) - in addition to dropping names associated with the Jersey Shore (2009), is made up to look like Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi.