If this shifting was done because they wanted to show what they believed was their "best" shows first, that's pretty scary thought for what we can expect as we go forward.

I would give the first four Season 4 episodes the following grades-
Ep 1: Tom:
B for enjoyability

Judging from the first two episodes of season 4, the show is going for much more simple direct fed humor as well as relying (too heavily, IMO) on past joke set ups. As a result, the humor isn't as clever or as funny.