Broderick co-starred in the CBS television series "Brenner", portraying Officer Ernie Brenner. He played the father on the television show "Family" from 1976 to 1980, receiving an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 1978. Other notable television appearances included the "Twilight Zone" episode "On Thursday We Leave for Home" and the public television productions of Jean Shepherd's "The Phantom of the Open Hearth" and "The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters", where he played Ralph Parker's father, "the Old Man," a role later played by Darren McGavin in "A Christmas Story". He also appeared in the "Doctors Wife" episode of "Gunsmoke" in 1964.