• Head to Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park for the 21st Annual Labor Day Celebration and Moon Pie Eatin’ Contest, Alabama’s largest moon pie eating contest. Across the park, the United Mine Workers will also hold their annual Birmingham District Labor Day celebration. There’s also plenty of good BBQ and some pickin’ and singing, too. Admission is charged, the celebration runs from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. For more information, visit www.tannehill.org.
• As viewers get geared up for the start of the new TV season, A&E makes a short-run pitch for their attention with the two-part drama “Coma.”
Airing at 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, it stars Lauren Ambrose (“Six Feet Under,” “Torchwood: Miracle Day”) as Susan Wheeler, a medical student who begins to notice that a lot of people in Atlanta’s Peach Tree Memorial Hospital are slipping into comas — and ending up in the Jefferson Institute, a special-care facility.
Wheeler and surgical resident Mark Bellows (Steven Pasquale, “Rescue Me”) dig deeper into the mystery — at once finding nasty business and getting the unpleasant attention of people with secrets to keep.
If this sounds familiar, then you are probably aware of the source material. The 1977 book “Coma” was the second novel by Robin Cook, a medical doctor with literary ambitions, and a breakthrough in a career that went on to include a lot of single-word-title tales such as “Seizure,” “Terminal,” “Outbreak” and “Critical” as well as screen adaptations. It was made into a 1978 movie with Genevieve Bujold and Michael Douglas, directed by Michael Crichton, whose life and career also included best-selling novels.
• Catch the fall premiere of the hit ABC Family show “Switched at Birth” at 7 p.m.
Tuesday
• Head to the Anniston Public Library at 2 p.m. to participate in the “Researching Your Heritage” program presented by Tom Mullins, head of the Alabama Room. The program will show what resources the library has available for researching a family tree and the basics of genealogical research. There is no cost for the program.
• New albums by Melissa Ethridge (“4th Street Feeling”), Matchbox 20 (“North”) and Animal Collective (“Centipede Hz”) are released.
Thursday
• Lamman Rucker, who plays Will on the hit Tyler Perry TV show “Meet the Browns,” will speak at the Talladega College Opening Convocation at 10 a.m. in the Tornado Alley Gymnasium on campus.
Rucker is an educated and accomplished actor. He is a graduate of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C., and he has also played on shows such as “Half & Half,” “As The World Turns,” “All My Children” and “Law & Order,” as well as the Tyler Perry movies “Why Did I Get Married” and “Why Did I Get Married Too.”
The convocation at Talladega College is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the President’s Office at 256-761-6212.
• freddyJet Dance Conservatory will perform its first home show of the fall season at The Oxford Train Depot at 6:30pm. Thirty Jet students ages 5 to 35 will show new works created by founder and art director Rani Welch.
Tickets are $5 and no reservations are necessary.
Friday
• The Words (PG-13): A writer at the peak of his literary success discovers the steep price he must pay for stealing another man’s work. With Bradley Cooper and Dennis Quaid.
— Compiled from staff and wire reports
Deirdre Long is deputy features editor for The Anniston Star. If you have an event you’d like to submit to “Best Bets,” contact Long at dlong@annistonstar.com or 256-405-0071.
