There were no big surprises in the Academy Award nominations announced this morning. Oscar favorites like Cate Blanchett and Johnny Depp received their expected nods, as did critical favorites like “Michael Clayton,” “Juno” and “No Country for Old Men.”

But the big surprises could still be yet to come.

ABC’s Feb. 24 Oscar broadcast, second only to the Super Bowl in viewership and advertising dollars, is threatened by the ongoing writers’ strike, which has already snuffed the Golden Globes Awards ceremony and the People’s Choice Awards.

Yet after weeks of speculation over the broadcast’s fate, there’s suddenly new hope that the show could go on.

Word came yesterday that the Writers Guild of America and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are starting informal talks today that could lead them back to the bargaining table after a six-week break.

Should they hammer out a deal in the coming weeks, using the recently certified agreement with the Directors Guild of America as a template, the Oscars might be saved. That looked like a very faint hope only days ago, when the two sides were lobbing word bombs and denouncing each other to anyone who would listen.

George Clooney, who has offered to help mediate between the two sides, received a nomination for best actor for Clayton, upping his interest in the strike's outcome. Like Clooney, many Screen Actors Guild members have said they will not cross a picket line to attend the ceremony.

At the least, the Oscars could be granted a waiver as a good faith gesture if negotiations are tracking well. Last year’s ceremony drew some 40 million viewers, making it the No. 2 telecast on television for the year.

After all the drama over whether the Oscars will air, plus the cancellation of earlier ceremonies, ABC could see a nice boost in viewership among those who have missed the glamour and hoopla of awards season, though once again there was no box office behemoth among the most-nominated films.

“Country” and “There Will Be Blood” led the nominated films with eight nods apiece, including best picture and best director. “Michael Clayton” and “Atonement” tied for third with seven nods apiece, also each receiving a best picture nod.

The teen pregnancy comedy “Juno” got the final best picture slot, as well as the first Oscar nomination for star Ellen Page.

A list of the major nominees:
 
BEST PICTURE
 
“Atonement”
 
“Michael Clayton”
 
“No Country for Old Men”
 
“There Will Be Blood”
 
“Juno”
 

BEST ACTOR
 
George Clooney, “Michael Clayton”
 
Daniel Day-Lewis, “There Will Be Blood”
 
Johnny Depp, “Sweeney Todd”
 
Tommy Lee Jones, “In the Valley of Elah”
 
Viggo Mortensen, “Eastern Promises”
 

BEST ACTRESS
 
Cate Blanchett, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”
 
Julie Christie, “Away From Her”
 
Marion Cotillard, “La Vie en Rose”
 
Laura Linney, “The Savages”
 
Ellen Page, “Juno”
 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
 
Casey Affleck, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”
 
Javier Bardem, “No Country for Old Men”
 
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Charlie Wilson's War”
 
Hal Holbrook, “Into The Wild”
 
Tom Wilkinson, “Michael Clayton”
 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
 
Cate Blanchett, “I'm Not There”
 
Ruby Dee, “American Gangster”
 
Saoirse Ronan, “Atonement”
 
Amy Ryan, “Gone Baby Gone”
 
Tilda Swinton, “Michael Clayton”
 

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
 
“Persepolis”
 
“Ratatouille”
 
“Surf's Up”
 

BEST DOCUMENTARY
 
“No End in Sight”
 
“Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience”
 
“Sicko”
 
“Taxi to the Dark Side”
 
“War/Dance”
 

BEST FOREIGN FILM
 
“Beaufort” (Israel)
 
“The Counterfeiters” (Austria)
 
“Katyn” (Poland)
 
“Mongol” (Kazakhstan)
 
“12” (Russia)
 

BEST DIRECTOR
 
Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood”
 
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”
 
Julian Schnabel, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
 
Tony Gilroy, “Michael Clayton”
 
Jason Reitman, “Juno”