PORTLAND – After months of guessing, the secret is out – the production filmed in Eastport this spring is an eight-week reality-type drama called “Murder in Small Town X.”

The crew of Final Stretch Productions began arriving in Eastport in late February, but exactly what was being filmed was a mystery. The company said only that it was a pilot for a possible television series, and remained tight-lipped about the details.

Fox Broadcasting Co. announced this week that the show will be its new summer mystery series.

The series begins July 17 with a 90-minute episode starting at 8:30 p.m.

“People are pretty excited, there’s been some talk of having a big event to watch it together,” said Chris Brown, owner of S.L. Wadsworth & Son, a hardware store that was used as a location for the series. “It seems like it’s getting on TV pretty quick.”

The company took over the town, hiring locals to build sets and act as extras in the production. They staged explosions and car crashes, and filled motels and restaurants.

The economic boom thrilled the residents of this economically suppressed seaport.

“We hope this happens again, and again, and again,” said Jim Blankman, a local woodworker and skateboard maker. “As long as other [film crews] are as nice as these people were.”

The contestants of the show were trained in investigative techniques by a police sergeant, then entered the fictional world of Sunrise, which was made up of Eastport locations.

“The players are taunted by the killer and challenged to play a twisted game. At the end of each episode, two investigators are selected by the group to venture, alone, to two separate locations. One will come back with a vital clue, and one will become the killer’s next victim,” the company said in a description of the show.

The show’s creators included George Verschoor, who produced and directed the first four seasons of MTV’s reality series “The Real World.”