One of the most transcendent stories on television this year.

In the end, this show may wind up going the way of Rectify, an almost pure form of character drama in which storylines take a backseat to the sheer pleasure of watching a human being evolve before one’s eyes, as David Young does on David Makes Man. Either way, I know I'll be watching.

The rhapsodic and dreamy timbre of Moonlight, the film that won the Best Picture Oscar in 2017, comes to life again in David Makes Man, a gorgeous, attention-grabbing new series on the OWN Network.

Coming-of-age tales are nothing new, but few have the authenticity and poignant power of David's. [19 Aug - 1 Sep 2019, p.13]

The way it simply lingers in David’s worlds, and in his head, pays enormous emotional dividends in later episodes. Those installments aren’t quite as stylish as the premiere, but they allow for a touch more humor and whimsy, which proves a welcome trade-off.

This viewer, at least, remains curious and eager to see more of David’s story, one that is told with élan and confidence and played with preternatural skill.

David Makes Man is hard to quantify as an ongoing TV series working in a superficially familiar genre, but it's easy to tell that its poignant humanism, a potent mixture of gritty clarity and a dreamlike nostalgia for childhood and the past, is something distinctive. ... The pilot, written by McCraney and directed by Michael Francis Williams, is half-theater, half-indie movie and feels most cumbersome when any sort of plot is inserted.