I believe if I know about how the episodes are churned out, it would help me understand the direction of the show. Also, pardon my language skills (I am not a native speaker.)

SO, a few questions:

1. Is an episode filmed after the episode is written? Or are all the episodes written first, in its entirety, then the episodes are filmed week after week.

After all the episodes are committed to celluloid (or digital hard drive space or whatever) then the episodes are aired.

2. In the off-season, the writers and producers figure out what direction to take the show. Then the episodes are written out, is that correct?

Don't really get your questions. I assume you're just wondering how the writing and producing conflict goes when producing a TV show. The writers pitch an idea to a producer and network. This pitch usually contains a summary of the series. They go into cast, get locations for shooting, all of the usual. The writers have all the episodes planned out before episode 1 of the season is even aired. When they are filming a season they do it all together. They don't film one episode and then wait for the writers to write another one. I hope this answers your question.