Is The Office losing steam?

You can boil The Office down to 4 core elements:

1. Hating Michael 90% of the time, but 10% of the time seeing his softer side
2. Jim playing pranks on Dwight
3. Off the wall quotes from others via the confessional segments
   
4. Struggling relationship between Jim and Pam

With the exception of #1 (which was done brilliantly this week at the end of the Survivor Man episode), all of the above elements have suffered this season. Jim has matured with fewer pranks (i.e. visiting Dwight's beet farm without incident), confessional segments are stale, and Jim and Pam have no issues.

There needs to be a burst of compelling plot lines and pranks, as my Season 3 buzz is wearing off and Season 4 has yet to deliver.