Don't know why, but there seems to be a recent influx of people (badly) writing and editing recaps. So a few refreshers:

1 ) Recaps have to be original. Your words, not someone else's. Can you say "plagiarism," boys and girls?

2 ) Recaps have to feature just what's in the show. I've had a couple of submissions where writers just made stuff up.

3 ) Keep it simple and direct. Avoid "screen directions." Starting a recap with "The episode begins with..." is unnecessary. Every recap you write should begin with the first thing the episode begins with. Ditto for "Next scene..." and "Cut to black" and so on. Also avoid lengthy prose. You don't have to write robotic "A did B. B did A." But there's a difference between "Walter angrily rounded on Peter" and "His eyes seething with anger and his face filled with that which men call disdain, Walter turned on Peter and ground out between his teeth, "Excuse me if I didn't say the magic words!""

4) Similarly (and as pointed out by Jekyll), avoid interjecting personal opinion. There is no "I" in recaps.

5 ) Tell the episode in the order it occurs on-screen. Yes, sometimes the main A plot, and the sub B and C plots are interwoven and don't seem to relate. Still tell them in the order we see them on-screen. Rather than tell all of Plot A. Wait until you're done with it, and then jump back and tell all of Subplot B.

6 ) Never say blah-blah-blah. Yes, I had one writer who considered this acceptable in a recap, rather than recap what was actually happening.

7 ) When editing, use Comments. See that thing above the Comment block, that says, Enter any comments you have regarding the change you are submitting. These comments are mandatory, and will help our moderators process your submission. Provide Comments that will help me process your submission. Saying nothing but "spelling error" or "line spacing" or "grammatical error" for a thousand-word recap does not help me process your submission. Sadly, TV.com doesn't provide editors with a before/after comparison tool, so I can't tell what you're editing unless you tell me. I will reject submissions if you don't tell me what you're editing, and why. If you can't be bothered, than neither can I.

8 ) Speaking of why you're editing a recap... Make sure the "why" is because it is necessary. Personal preference isn't acceptable, because everyone has different personal preferences. You'd end up with infinite numbers of recap edits. Missing scenes, typos, line spacing, even grammar are all acceptable as changes. Feeling that the recap doesn't place the right emphasis on scene a over scene b is not. "Because it's better" is not a useful or acceptable Comment. "Better" is subjective." Tell me what is missing or in error, and if legitimate it'll get accepted.

9 ) Avoid parentheses. Really. Most people don't know how to use them correctly, so just avoid them entirely. You'd be surprised how you can get by without them.

Hope that all helps.