Time Machine Setup "Choose Backup Disk" Won't Recognize ANY Disks

I'm trying to configure Time Machine for the first time. I open Time Machine preferences and slide the slider to ON. Because no backup disk is selected, a window pops up where possible drives are to be listed. The Time Machine instructions say this...
Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, and then click Time Machine.
Open Time Machine preferences
Slide the switch to On if Time Machine is off.
Click Choose Backup Disk (or click Change Disk if you have already set up Time Machine).
Step 4 - Choose a disk where backups will be stored, and click “Use for Backup.”
You see a list of every available disk that can be used to store backups, including internal hard disks (except for your startup disk), most external disks, and any Time Capsule devices set up for use with Time Machine. If you have partitioned a disk, the partitions are listed.
I do not see a list of any available disks, not even the internal hard disk on my computer. I only have two button options--Setup Time Capsule or Cancel.
When I click Setup Time Capsule it opens my Airport Utility and takes me to the setup page for my Airport Extreme. Why? My Airport Extreme Base Station is already setup and running. How do I get drives to appear in the Time Machine setup window?

My two external drives are connected to my Airport Extreme Base Station via USB. My tower is connected to the Base Station via Ethernet. My internal drive is, of course, internal and is supposed to show and it's not. Here's their formats...
Internal Drive - Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
My two external drives don't seem to show up in Disk Utility. In Finder the format shows as...
External Drive 1 - SMB (FAT)
External Drive 2 - Has two partitions (rather, 1 partition and two volumes) both of which are listed as Apple Share.
I just re-read your note. I connected External Drive 1 directly to the tower and Time Machine spoke right up and asked if I wanted to use the drive for backing up. The format then appeared in Disk Utility as MS-DOS (FAT32).
- It would appear the drive must be directly connected to the tower to be used by Time Machine. Is this true?
- Why does my internal drive not appear as the Apple Help file says it should?
- I may have to purchase another external hard drive. If so, is there a particular format it should be in for use with Time Machine?
Thanks...

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